Iraq continues its suspension of oil exports under the
United Nations oil-for-food programme.
In the week ending 8 June, 7.2 million barrels of oil were
lifted through four loadings, at an average of 1.02 million barrels a day. Of
the total loadings, three were at Mina-al-Bakr and one at Ceyhan terminals.
The week’s oil exports raised an estimated
€205
million (euros) in revenue at current prices. The
average price of Iraqi crude oil during the week was approximately $24.14 or €28.43
(euros) per barrel.
In current phase IX, Iraq has exported 293 million barrels
of oil, so far, earning over
€6.7 billion
(euros) in revenue. Since the beginning of the oil-for-food programme on 10
December 1996, Iraqi oil exports have totaled approximately 2,500 million
barrels for an estimated revenue of $38.6 billion and €6.7 billion
(euros).
During the week, the United Nations oil overseers, on behalf
of the Security Council’s 661 sanctions Committee, approved one more oil
purchase contract, for two million barrels of Basrah Light crude for the
United States market. There are now 174 approved contracts for the lifting of
over 571 million barrels of oil, 351 million barrels of
which are for Basrah Light and 220 million for Kirkuk.
Since the beginning of the programme, the 661 Committee has
approved 8,159 contracts worth $16.83 billion for the purchase of humanitarian
supplies, while another 2,114 contracts worth $4.81 billion were processed by
the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP) under "fast track"
procedures, based on pre-approved lists of supplies. In addition, the
Committee has approved 2,592 contracts worth 1.43 billion for the purchase of
oil industry spare parts and equipment, while OIP has "fast tracked"
another 277 contracts worth $245 million for this category. The "fast
track" procedures began to be implemented in March 2000.
The total value of contracts placed on hold by the Security
Council's 661 sanctions committee increased slightly to $3.05 billion,
representing 14.3 per cent of the total value circulated to the Committee. A
single large application placed on hold last week was in the oil sector, thus
contributing to the increase both generally and in the oil spare parts and
equipment sector. Of the total 1,323 contracts on hold, 865 contracts worth
over $2.6 billion were for humanitarian supplies, while 458 contracts worth
over $428 million were for oil industry spare parts and equipment.
In the course of the week, the Committee released five
contracts, and placed 28 contracts worth $81.2 million on hold.
As at 8 June 2001, approximately $2.23 billion and over
€1.97 billion (euros) in unencumbered funds were available in the United
Nations escrow account for the issuance of additional letters of credit for
the purchase of humanitarian supplies and oil spare parts and equipment by the
Government of Iraq.
