The military's fuel unit, the Defense Energy Support Center, said 22 companies had bid for the contracts to bring in fuel via Turkey for civilians in Iraq, which despite being oil-rich suffers from a shortage of refined products. The biggest contract went to New Braunfels, Texas-based company Refinery Associates of Texas, Inc. which was given a $108.5 million deal to bring in diesel fuel and gasoline. The remaining six went to Turkish firms. The biggest Turkish deal went to Turcas Petrol A.S., with a $59 million contract to buy diesel and gasoline. Turkish firm Opet Petrolcul U.K. A.S. got a $55 million contract for gas. Other winning Turkish companies were Petrol Ofisi A.S. with a $35 million deal for diesel, Delta Petrol Urunleri Ticaret A.S. with $18 million for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Iprgaz A.S. with a $17 million contract for LPG and Tefirom Construction & Energy Co. Ltd. with a $15.8 million LPG contract. Texas-based Halliburton's Kellogg Brown and Root unit is at the center of a criminal investigation by the Pentagon's Inspector General's office over allegedly overcharging for fuel brought into Iraq under a no-bid deal it had with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The company strongly denies any wrongdoing and says it brought in fuel for the best possible price under very dangerous circumstances. In December the DESC was assigned to find new, cheaper, contractors to bring in fuel, replacing KBR's role of bringing in fuel. KBR, which has been bringing in fuel in the meantime, holds another contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild Iraq's southern oil fields as well as a bigger one to provide logistical support to troops. The contracts announced on Monday cover fuel for the north of the country. Another contract to bring in fuel via southern Iraq and a separate trucking deal are expected to be announced in the next few weeks. All the solicitations cover April 1 to June 30, the date of the scheduled handover from the U.S.-led authority to the Iraqis. In the original solicitations, the southern contract called for the delivery of 32.45 million gallons of kerosene, 57.06 million gallons of unleaded fuel, 28.64 million gallons of diesel and 61,200 metric tons of LPG. The contract for the north called for 60.9 million gallons of kerosene, 116.59 million gallons of unleaded gasoline, 87.1 million gallons of diesel and 38,200 metric tons of LPG. PIN//Reuters