OT (Oil Topic) Iraq may cut exports again unless spares delivered

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Iraq may cut exports again unless spares delivered

Link

BAGHDAD, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Iraq said on Friday it would cut its oil exports under the oil-for-food exchange with the United Nation by at least another 250,000 barrels per day if the United States kept blocking contracts for spare parts.

"We might extend further the reduction -- that means easily another quarter million or more if we lose hope of getting holds removed from our contracts," Iraqi Oil Minister General Amir Muhammed Rasheed told CNN television. Latest export figures from the United Nations indicate that Iraq's sales have fluctuated in the past weeks, dropping to 1.4 million bpd in the week ending January 28 from 1.86 million bpd the week before.

Last week Iraqi officials said exports had fallen off because of a lack of spare parts for their dilapidated oil industry and because of poor weather at the Mina-al-Bakr terminal in southern Iraq.

With oil prices hitting a peak of $27 a barrel and world supplies tight, any further cut in Iraqi exports could send oil prices even higher.

Early last year, when oil prices were low, Baghdad pushed production near to maximum levels, to the point of damaging its installations.

"We knew before that we were doing damage, but we consider that was short-term damage and the process could be reversed. But to continue that was really out of the question," Rasheed said.

Under the deal with the United Nations, Baghdad is allowed to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods for its people.

Iraqi officials have said Baghdad will observe a six-month $5.26 billion ceiling on exports because it does not accept the terms of a more recent U.N. Security Council resolution that eliminated the limit. The United Nations also allows Iraq to buy $300 million worth of spare parts every six months to repair its oil industry, devastated by U.S.-led bombings during the 1991 Gulf War as well as by the sanctions.

But the parts often have been rejected or have not won swift approval at the United Nations. Baghdad has often accused the U.S. envoy at the U.N. sanctions committee of blocking contracts for parts.



-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 11, 2000

Answers

Lessee, is that 250,000 gallons with or without the 100,000 gallons exported illegally??

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), February 11, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ