The Office of the
Iraq Programme is making a renewed effort to cut down the number of
humanitarian contracts which lack technical information without which they
cannot be processed or sent to the Security Council’s 661 Sanctions
Committee. In
letters to Permanent and Observer Missions the Executive Director of OIP,
Benon Sevan, says there are about $1.1 billion dollars worth of contracts in
this category.
Mr. Sevan asks that suppliers move more quickly in providing such
information.
Since its
implementation in March this year, the OIP has used the “fast track”
process to approve 943 humanitarian contracts worth more than $2.13 billion
and 56 contracts for oil equipment worth more than $42 million.
This process is based on lists in the food, health, water/sanitation,
education and agriculture sectors plus equipment for the oil industry.
These lists have
been approved by the 661 Committee and are under constant review.
Last week, the Committee approved a revised list with additional items
for the agriculture sector.
This list now comprises more than 2,000 items including spare parts for
agricultural machinery, pesticides and animal feed.
During the week to
6 October 2000, Iraq exported 11.6 million barrels of oil for an estimated
revenue of $305 million.
Since the start of phase VIII on 9 June, Iraq’s oil exports have
totaled 246.8 million barrels for revenue of just over $6.2 billion.
The current phase ends on 5 December 2000.
In the same period,
the 661 Committee approved two new contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil.
An Italian and a UK company will each purchase four million barrels of
Basrah Light for the Far East/USA markets and four million barrels of Kirkuk
crude for the European market.
So far in phase
VIII, the Committee has approved 109 contracts with a total volume of over 422
million barrels (250.1 million Basrah Light and 171.9 million Kirkuk crude).
Since the start of the "oil for food" programme on 10
December 1996, Iraq has exported slightly more than 2,077 million barrels of
oil with a value of over $35.2 billion.
In the week to 6
October, the Committee also approved 57 additional contracts for the
humanitarian programme in Iraq.
In phases IV to VIII, the Committee has now approved around $8.31
billion worth of contracts for humanitarian supplies.
In the oil sector the Committee has approved 2,192 contracts worth
almost $1.17 billion.
In the same week,
the Committee released $32.2 million contracts on hold while putting on hold
another $70.4 million.
Contracts released from hold included iron bars, circuit breakers,
construction columns and drums.
Those placed on hold included water pumping compact units, cranes,
bulldozers, oil spare parts, sterilizers, boats and measuring equipment.
The
total value of contracts on hold in all the sectors of the programme is now
more than $2.18 billion -
comprising over $1.91 billion for humanitarian supplies and almost $270
million for oil industry spare parts and equipment.
