On
Friday, 15 December, the Security Council’s 661 sanctions committee for Iraq
requested the United Nations oil overseers to convey to the buyers of Iraqi
oil the Committee’s position on the reported surcharge for the purchase of
Iraqi oil.
In a letter to the buyers the oil overseers noted that the Committee
had not approved a surcharge of any kind on Iraqi oil.
Payments for the purchase of Iraqi crude oil could not be made to a
non-UN account and, therefore, buyers of Iraqi oil should not pay any kind of
surcharge to Iraq.
Three oil loadings were completed at Mina al-Bakr
terminal last week ending on 15 December, following Iraq’s resumption of oil
exports on 13 December under the United Nations oil-for-food programme.
Oil exports during the week earned an estimated $60 million from the
sale of three million barrels of oil.
There were no oil liftings at Cehyan terminal and no vessels were
scheduled for loading in the near future.
The
oil overseers and the Committee last week approved one contract under phase
VIII for a Spanish company to purchase one million barrels of Kirkuk crude
destined for the European market.
No oil export contracts have yet been approved under phase IX which
began on 6 December.
There are 57 approved oil sale contracts for 79.8 million barrels of
oil under phase VIII that remain to be completed (44.1 million barrels of
Basrah Light and 35.6 million barrels of Kirkuk).
Iraq’s
total oil exports since the start of the programme on 10 December 1996 now
stand at almost 2,210 million barrels, for an estimated revenue of over $38.6
billion.
During
the week of 9 to 15 December, the Committee approved 47 contracts for the
purchase of humanitarian supplies by Iraq and four contracts for oil industry
spare parts and equipment.
Another 22 humanitarian and two oil spare parts contracts were
processed by the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) under the “fast track”
procedures based on pre-approved lists.
In
phases IV to VIII, the Committee has now approved almost $9.7 billion worth of
contracts for humanitarian supplies, while an additional $3 billion worth have
been processed by OIP under the "fast track" procedures.
The Committee has also approved 2,328 contracts worth about $1.3
billion for the purchase of oil industry spare parts and equipment. Another 78
contracts worth over $54 million have been approved under the "fast
track" procedures by OIP.
As
at 15 December, the total value of contracts placed on hold by the Committee
was over $2.7 billion ($2.4 billion for humanitarian supplies and $328 million
for oil industry spare parts and equipment).
