Japan to aid Iraq oil output - Very helpful them Japanese

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http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/23/business/yenloan.php

TOKYO Japan, which imports 99 percent of its oil, said Monday that it would lend $3.5 billion to Baghdad to finance three projects in southern Iraq aimed at helping the country bolster exports.

The loan will finance the redevelopment and upgrade of a refinery in Basra, improvements to oil-export infrastructure and a project to produce liquefied petroleum gas, said Shin Hosaka, director of the oil and natural gas division at the Japanese Trade Ministry.

Japan and Iraq, which holds the world's third-largest oil reserves, are to sign an agreement Tuesday that included the financing deal, Hosaka said.

Iraq is under pressure to reconstruct its war-torn oil facilities and bolster exports. It is the only country among the 11 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that does not have a production target. Attacks on oil installations and the difficulty of guaranteeing security to workers have hampered Iraq's attempts to increase output.