London, July 10: US and UK-based oil majors have taken the lion's share of Iraq's second post-Saddam crude oil sell tender, companies and Iraqi officials said on Wednesday. A Royal Dutch/Shell spokesman said the major had been awarded two million barrels of Basra Light crude in the tender, which closed on Monday, joining US ChevronTexaco and BP, who both confirmed winning earlier.
The fourth cargo went to Swiss-based trading house Taurus, the first trader to win a cargo since the US invasion. Baghdad had expressed a preference for refiners in the tender.
An official at Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) confirmed the four winners but declined to give any further details.

It is the first time the British companies have been awarded Iraqi crude since the US-led invasion. ChevronTexaco won its first Basra Light cargo in the previous tender.

Six million barrels of the crude are bound for US shores, two-thirds of that to the West Coast, while Shell is likely to take its cargo into northwest Europe, market sources say. Bureau Report