Office of the Iraq Programme Oil for Food

24 October 2000

Oil-for-Food Background Information

Weekly update for the period 14 - 20 October 2000

In the week to 20 October, Iraq exported 19.4 million barrels of oil with an estimated value of $508 million. The total oil exports in the current phase VIII (June to December 2000) are 282.5 million barrels for a revenue of almost $7.2 billion.

The United Nations oil overseers and the Security Council’s 661 sanctions committee for Iraq last week approved two new contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil. An Indonesian and a Malaysian company are each authorised to purchase 2 million barrels of Basrah Light for the United States and Far East markets.

This brings the total approved contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil to 113 with a total volume of 427.6 million barrels (254 million Basrah Light and 173 Kirkuk Crude). Since the start of the oil-for-food programme on 10 December 1996, Iraq has exported 2,113 million barrels of oil with a value of over $36.2 billion.

On 23 October, World Food Programme (WFP) experts briefed the Security Council Committee on the existing state of the transportation infrastructure in Iraq including the railway network, facilities at the port of Umm Qasr, trucking fleet and warehousing capacities. In recent weeks the number of ships carrying humanitarian supplies arriving at the port of Umm Qasr has doubled, with a record 34,000 metric tonnes of supplies being unloaded daily. Given the limited berthing and unloading capacity of the port, as well as the lack of trucks, these vessels can now wait up to 4 weeks to complete unloading.

The total value of contracts on hold as at 20 October stood at almost $2.28 billion, including $1.99 billion for humanitarian supplies (centre/south of Iraq only) and $285 million for oil industry spare parts and equipment. During the week, 17 contracts worth $62.4 million were released from hold by the Committee. These included contracts for trucks, electrical and sewage equipment, circuit breakers and oil rig spare parts. The Committee put another 46 contracts on hold worth $89.8 million. Among others, these were for trucks, cranes, transformers, water compact units, suction dredger and ambulance boats.

In phases IV to VIII, the Committee approved around $8.55 billion worth of contracts for humanitarian supplies, while another $2.55 billion worth were processed by OIP under “fast track” procedures based on pre-approved lists of supplies. The Committee has approved a total of 2,231 contracts worth over $1.18 billion for the purchase of oil industry spare parts and equipment and another 65 contracts worth $52 million under “fast track” procedures.

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Produced for media and public information – not an official United Nations Document
For further information please contact Hasmik Egian, OIP - NY, 1.212.963.4341

Oil-for-Food Background Information		Weekly update for the period 14 - 20 October 2000 In the week to 20 October, Iraq exported 19.4 million barrels of oil with an estimated value of $508 million. The total oil exports in the current phase VIII (June to December 2000) are 282.5 million barrels for a revenue of almost $7.2 billion. The United Nations oil overseers and the Security Council’s 661 sanctions committee for Iraq last week approved two new contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil. An Indonesian and a Malaysian company are each authorised to purchase 2 million barrels of Basrah Light for the United States and Far East markets. This brings the total approved contracts for the sale of Iraqi oil to 113 with a total volume of 427.6 million barrels (254 million Basrah Light and 173 Kirkuk Crude). Since the start of the oil-for-food programme on 10 December 1996, Iraq has exported 2,113 million barrels of oil with a value of over $36.2 billion. On 23 October, World Food Programme (WFP) experts briefed the Security Council Committee on the existing state of the transportation infrastructure in Iraq including the railway network, facilities at the port of Umm Qasr, trucking fleet and warehousing capacities. In recent weeks the number of ships carrying humanitarian supplies arriving at the port of Umm Qasr has doubled, with a record 34,000 metric tonnes of supplies being unloaded daily. Given the limited berthing and unloading capacity of the port, as well as the lack of trucks, these vessels can now wait up to 4 weeks to complete unloading. The total value of contracts on hold as at 20 October stood at almost $2.28 billion, including $1.99 billion for humanitarian supplies (centre/south of Iraq only) and $285 million for oil industry spare parts and equipment. During the week, 17 contracts worth $62.4 million were released from hold by the Committee. These included contracts for trucks, electrical and sewage equipment, circuit breakers and oil rig spare parts. The Committee put another 46 contracts on hold worth $89.8 million. Among others, these were for trucks, cranes, transformers, water compact units, suction dredger and ambulance boats. In phases IV to VIII, the Committee approved around $8.55 billion worth of contracts for humanitarian supplies, while another $2.55 billion worth were processed by OIP under “fast track” procedures based on pre-approved lists of supplies. The Committee has approved a total of 2,231 contracts worth over $1.18 billion for the purchase of oil industry spare parts and equipment and another 65 contracts worth $52 million under “fast track” procedures.
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