SRI LANKA PLANS TO RENEW ABU DHABI OIL CONTRACT Ceylon Petroleum Corp (CPC) has decided to renew its one-year contract with Abu Dhabi for 480,000 tonnes of Upper Zakum crude oil, CPC officials told Reuters. They said CPC made the recommendation to the cabinet and is now awaiting its approval. CPC's one-year contract with Abu Dhabi expired on May 31 this year and it wants the renewed contract to begin on June 1 at the government selling price. Delivery will be determined in the course of the year. Last year, shipments were in three parcels of 120,000 tonnes each and four of 30,000 tonnes each. CPC officials also said the company agreed with the Egyptian government for the supply of 240,000 tonnes of Gulf of Suez crude for delivery in two shipments this year at the government selling price. Last year, CPC bought 120,000 tonnes Gulf of Suez through C.Itoh. Officials said plans to buy 240,000 tonnes of Basra Light from Iraq have not been finalised yet because of several constraints. CPC said it could not accept 120,000 tonne parcels and proposed to lift 30,000 tonnes in eight shipments. Iraq National Oil Co (INOC) told CPC a Red Sea port where lifting was to take place could not accept small ships. INOC then proposed to deliver eight shipments of 30,000 tonnes each. CPC said INOC planned to ship the oil to an Indian port for delivery of Indian requirements, later going to Colombo to offload CPC's needs, but CPC considered this unsuitable. CPC said it had not received a reply from INOC since December. Sri Lanka imports all its annual needs of 1.7 mln tonnes. This year it plans to buy 400,000 tonnes on the spot market compared with about 1.3 mln tonnes last year.