A tanker carrying Iraq's first exported cargo of gas condensates, produced by a joint venture with Shell, left the southern port of Khor Al Zubair on Sunday, heading to Fujairah, in the UAE, an Oil Ministry spokesman said.

The 10,000 cu m cargo marks the first foreign sale of a gas product by the Opec nation, spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.

The cargo is produced by the Basrah Gas Company, a joint venture between Iraq state-run South Gas Co., Shell and Mitsubishi.

The company captures the associated natural gas produced with oil from fields in southern Iraq, processing it mainly to fuel power stations and as cooking gas for the domestic market.-Reuters