BAGHDAD: An Iraqi oil official says U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford International Ltd., has won a $224.4-million contract to drill in southern Iraq.The official with the state-run Maysan Oil Co. said Wednesday the Houston-based company has 24 months to drill 20 wells in the southern Buzurgan oil field in Maysan province.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said the wells will boost current the field's current output of 80,000 barrels per day by at least 40 percent.The deal - ratified Tuesday by the Iraqi Cabinet - is part of an accelerated plan to raise Iraq's output from its current level of 2.4 million barrels per day by 2010.Maysan is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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