Iraq is considering awarding a multi-billion-dollar contract for the construction of the Al Faw Grand Port to China Machinery Engineering Corp (CMEC) to replace Daewoo following a financial rift with the South Korean firm, the local press said on Wednesday.

The Arabic language network Aliqtisad News published what it said a copy of a Transport Ministry letter to the Chinese Embassy in Baghdad asking if CMEC is still interested in the project.

The report said CMEC in 2011 offered to execute the entire project at a total cost of $6 billion to be paid by Iraq in the form of crude oil supplies six years after the completion of the project but that the offer was rejected by Baghdad.

The letter, which was sent to the Embassy by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, said: "The Transport Ministry would like to know the position of CMEC which is interested in executing the Faw Port project....the Ministry will be grateful if the Embassy contacts CMEC regarding this subject and inform the Ministry about its position."

The Transport Ministry said this month it has been locked in negotiations with Daewoo after it threatened to quit the Faw breakwater contract which it won three years ago due to a financial dispute with the Ministry.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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