Iraq abandons marketing partners and makes its own way in the oil trade

http://almasalah.com/ar/news/166176/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%B4%D9%82-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82%D9%87-%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%84%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B7



Iraq abandons marketing partners and makes its own way in the oil trade 


 PM 3:04:46 3/13/2019 








BAGHDAD (Reuters) -



 Iraqi oil marketing company SOMO has canceled two joint ventures and cut contracts with some European customers to seek to sell more of its oil, according to commercial .sources After years of watching major oil companies and independent trading companies benefit from major business operations, state oil companies in North Africa and the Middle East decided to take away .what they saw as potential lost revenues The main solution was the establishment of joint ventures to acquire the necessary skills, followed by the Sultanate of Oman, which initially cooperated with the World Trade Company in the last .decade. The Omani government eventually purchased the joint Omani project Over the past few years, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq have also taken the path of joint ventures, while Saudi Arabia has established a wholly owned commercial arm from the outset. .Kuwait has held talks with foreign companies on a joint venture This is what they always aim at, like those joint ventures, learning from seasoned players and" .starting a company on their own," one source said Four sources said Somo had set up a similar joint venture in 2017 with Litasco, the commercial arm of Russian Lukoil, but left it at the end of 2018. The sources said a similar arrangement with China's .Chinhwa Oil was also abandoned Somo has not yet responded to media requests for comment on the matter, and Litasco declined to .comment Separately, Somo briefly sold shipments on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange and across the Global .Plats Standard & Poor's platform. The company is currently selling crude more actively on its own There are about five or six of them, all of them are young, enthusiastic and trained abroad," a" .European trade source said, referring to former employees of a joint venture of Sumo .Adjustments by the Iraqi government led the shift, according to sources Adjustments were made to the Somo leadership in September 2017, under the former Iraqi government. Alaa al-Yasiri replaced Falah al-Amiri as president of Sumo and became Iraq's .representative to the OPEC board of governors In October 2018, Thamer Ghadhban became oil minister. He pledged to look into ways to reform .the sector and has since made changes among his ministry staff One source familiar with Sumo's thinking said the company was considering how best to exploit the .knowledge of its "managing team" - Somo employees who worked on the joint venture on oil trade