Iraq and China have agreed to restart a landmark agreement allowing Chinese companies to execute projects in the OPEC member in return for crude oil supply, the country's Planning Minister was quoted on Wednesday as saying.

Khaled Battal said the oil-for-projects agreement would again be enforced within the next few days after it was frozen because of the spread of Coronavirus.

"We have discussed the agreement with the Chinese ambassador in Baghdad over the past days....we have agreed to resume work on this agreement in the next few days," Battal said in a statement carried by the Iraqi website Aliqtisad News.

The website said the Minister denied reports about an imminent similar oil-for-projects agreement with Egypt.

Iraq, which controls the world's 5th largest crude oil deposits of around 145 billion barrels, signed an agreement with China in 2019 for the supply of 100,000 barrels per day of crude to Chinese firms in exchange for project execution and funding.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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