Today
is the last day of phase VIII of the United Nations oil-for-food programme for
Iraq.
The Security Council is currently debating a draft resolution for the
extension of the programme beyond phase VIII.
No
agreement has yet been reached between Iraq’s State Oil Marketing
Organization (SOMO) and the United Nations oil overseers on the pricing
mechanism for the sale of Iraqi oil for the month of December. At Iraq’s
decision, there have been no oil loadings at either Mina al-Bakr or Ceyhan oil
terminals under the programme since midnight 30 November.
During
the week 25 November – 1 December, Iraq exported 16.4 million
barrels of oil, adding an estimated $452 million to the phase VIII revenue.
The final total of Iraq’s oil exports in phase VIII is 376.3 million
barrels for an estimated revenue of $9.713 million.
Since
the start of the programme on 10 December 1996, Iraq has exported over 2,207
million barrels of oil, raising the estimated total revenue to more than $38.7
billion.
On
1 December, the Security Council’s 661 sanctions committee for Iraq approved
the list of oil spare parts and equipment for phase VIII that are now eligible
for “fast track” approval procedures by the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP).
The list had been submitted by OIP on 8 August 2000.
In
phases IV to VIII, the Committee has now approved over $9.3 billion worth of
contracts for humanitarian supplies, while over $2.8 billion worth have also
been processed by OIP under "fast track" procedures based on
pre-approved lists of supplies.
The Committee has also approved a total of 2,313 contracts worth over
$1.2 billion for the purchase of oil industry spare parts and equipment by
Iraq. Another 75 contracts worth over $53 million have been approved under the
"fast track" procedures by OIP.
The
total value of contracts placed on hold by the Committee as at 1 December
stood at almost $2.5 billion, representing 14.9 per cent of all circulated
contracts ($2.1 billion for humanitarian supplies and $323 million for oil
industry spare parts and equipment). During the week, 33 contracts worth $115
million were released from hold by the Committee, however, 46 new contracts
worth $184.4 million were placed on hold.
Mobile cranes, which had earlier been put on hold for “dual use”
reasons, were released, while a contract for 1,000 water tankers has now been
placed on hold for the same reason.
