Office of the Iraq Programme Oil for Food

The first material ordered under the terms of Security Council resolution 1175 (1998) to improve Iraq's ability to produce and export oil is due to be unloaded at the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr this week.

The contract with a Netherlands company is for a total of 5000 195kg barrels of demulsifier with a total value of $1.75 million dollars. The first shipment is 2520 barrels. The contract was received by the Office of the Iraq Programme on 30 July and circulated to the Security Council's 661 Committee on 4 August. It was approved in the last week of that month. Demulsifier is used to treat crude oil and remove impurities.

In the week to 20 November, the 661 Committee approved a further 13 contracts for oil spare parts and equipment worth $5,285,895. To date the Committee has approved 152 contracts valued at $102,806,832.

The thirteen approvals includes two contracts, with the Russian Federation and Turkey worth $3,212,700, which were released from hold. During the week, the 661 Committe put 11 contracts on hold with a total value of $2,563,038. There are currently 105 contracts on hold worth $44,294,840. (for details of the new contracts approved see the chart below)

The Oil Overseers advise that in the period 14 to 20 November, there were 15 loadings totalling 17.4 million barrels with an estimated value of $157 million. The revenue generated from the beginning of Phase Four at current prices is about $2,960 million. Phase Four began on 30 May and ends on 25 November.

Since the first shipments of humanitarian supplies under the oil for food programme in March 1997, more than 7.5 million tonnes of food, $440 million worth of medicine and health supplies and more than two hundred million dollars worth of inputs for the water, sanitation, agriculture, education, shelter and demining sectors have arrived in Iraq.

The Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme, Mr Benon V. Sevan, will brief the Security Council on the implementation of the programme this afternoon (New York time). The Secretary-General's latest report (S/1998/1100) was released on 20 November, covering the period to 31 October.

Country	Nature of Spares	Contract Value
Russian Federation	STORAGE TANKS/SPARE PARTS	$3,000,000
China	OIL SPARE PARTS	$195,093
China	PIPELINE EQUIPMENT & SPARES (OIL)	$68,000
Turkey	PIPELINE EQUIPMENT & SPARES (OIL)	$212,700
Italy	MOTOR	$376,100
Italy	OIL SPARE PARTS	$71,730
Italy	OIL SPARE PARTS	$61,435
Germany	OIL SPARE PARTS	$750,318
Belgium	FIRE FIGHTING CHEMICALS	$119,150
Russian Federation	TRANSFORMERS	$195,400
Finland	INSTRUMENTATION SPARES	$25,883
UAE	GENERATOR SPARE PARTS	$100,083
Cyprus	CABLE/SPARE PARTS	$110,000

	Value of contracts approved this week	*$5,285,895*
	Total approved to date:	*$102,806,832*