Aug. 10, 2007 (LPAC)--Following Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's visit to Iran this week, where he conferred with all the top Iranian leaders on forging stronger bilateral ties, an oil deal, long in the works, was signed by Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani and Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh. The deal, which was signed Friday according to {The Times of India} of Aug. 11, finalized a memorandum of understanding agreed upon a year ago by the two countries. Iraqi crude oil would be sold to Iran to be refined; then the refined product would be sold back to Iraq, for a cut to Iran of two million liters of the refined procuct per 100,000 barrels processed.

The deal will require the construction of a 32-inch pipeline to carry crude oil from Basra in Iraq to Abadan in Iran, plus a 16-inch pipeline to return the refined product to Iraq. The specifics of the deal have not yet been released by the Oil Ministries.