LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it was still
in talks with Iraq about a short-term service contract to help boost oil
production, despite a U.S. diplomat in Baghdad suggesting such deals may be
dropped.
"Negotiations go on," a Shell spokesman said, but he declined to give
further details.
Iraq and major international oil companies have been negotiating six
short-term technical service contracts, each worth about $500 million and
targeting a 100,000 bpd increase in output but Baghdad has been frustrated by
the slow progress.
The contracts were to formalise the assistance which the companies had been
providing free of charge in recent years and sources at the oil majors said this
assistance had been reduced sharply in the past year.
The coordinator for Iraq's economic transition at the U.S. embassy in
Baghdad, Charles Ries, said on Sunday that Iraq's government may drop all of the
contracts.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Paul Bolding) Keywords: SHELL/IRAQ
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