Turkey seeks help to sell Iraqi oil

"We now have a stock of 1.8 million tonnes of oil," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

"But there are no tanker ships coming in to take it because Iraq does not seem to have signed a deal with any country to sell oil and also because ships fear for their security in the Mediterranean during the war," he added.

There are also problems as to the ownership of the oil now that the regime in Baghdad has collapsed, the spokesman said.

"It is not clear who owns the oil so we asked the foreign ministry to contact the US and the UN to seek clarification," he added.

The sale of the oil stock is important for Turkey because the country receives annual revenues of 350-400 million dollars for allowing the transit of the oil through its territory.

Ceyhan is one of the two ports through which Iraq was allowed to export oil under the UN oil-for-food programme.
Iraq holds the world’s second-largest crude reserves after Saudi Arabia.