Oil exploration company Petrel Resources is planning to develop a "trading house" to identify and exploit business opportunities between Iraq and the EU, its chairman Dr John Teeling said yesterday.

In a statement to the company's a.g.m., he said there were opportunities to trade dairy, beef and pharmaceutical products and certain types of machinery and supplies. "Substantial trade opportunities currently exist in Iraq even within UN restrictions."

The company wants to develop its existing oil fields in southern Iraq and it was seeking also to acquire exploration rights the west of the state. Petrel Resources was continuing dialogue with an oil exploration and production company with a view to forming a joint venture, said Dr Teeling. Other interests in Namibia, Uganda and offshore Ireland would play "little or no part in our immediate future".