"We study business opportunities every day," said company president Alfonso Cortina before a meeting of shareholders.

"If there are any (opportunities) in Iraq, we will study them."

But Cortina said Iraq's post-war reconstruction had still not been planned, which meant it remained unclear what opportunities there might be for his company, the world's seventh-largest oil firm.

Many companies based in countries that opposed US-led military intervention fear being left out of the lucrative contracts and concessions for rebuilding post-war Iraq and extracting crude from its vast reserves.

But the government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose-Maria Aznar has braved high levels of public opposition to support the US-led invasion wholeheartedly.

In a separate statement on Friday, Repsol YPF said it planned to invest around 3.5 billion euros (3.7 billion dollars) in each of the next few years in increased production and a stronger presence in South America and North Africa.

The company said it planned to boost the profitability of its gas and refining operations and increase petrochemical production.

Repsol, which extracts 50 percent of its crude in Argentina, said it was seeking new opportunities mainly in Bolivia, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago in South America, and Algeria and Libya in North Africa.

The company had said in February that it planned to increase crude production by 10 percent by the end of this year.

Production reached a million barrels per day in 2002, up six percent on the previous year.

Repsol's net profit increased 90.4 percent to 1.95 billion euros in 2002 compared with the previous year, despite a 16.4-percent drop in turnover to 36.59 billion euros. Operating profit fell 32.5 percent to 3.32 billion euros.

SPACE.WIRE