Iraq's deputy foreign minister said Tuesday he will ask the United Nations to allow the country's government to fully control oil revenues and that Iraq's debts and war reparations be scrapped or reduced.
"We demand that the coming Iraqi government have full control over natural resources, including oil resources," Hamid al-Bayati told The Associated Press. "The sovereign Iraqi government should be able to control revenues."
Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi has noted that after June 30, the date when power is to be handed over to Iraqis, all of the country's oil revenues should be under the control of the new government.
Meanwhile, a sabotaged pipeline in southern Iraq has been repaired and exports are set to resume at pre-May 9 levels, an official at the oil terminal told AFP.
"Pumping through the pipeline that has just been repaired started at 9 a.m. (0500 GMT) and we expect the crude to reach the terminal around noon (0800 GMT)," Moayad Hashem, the official at the offshore terminal, said Tuesday.
He added exports should reach the same level as before the pipeline was attacked near Basra on May 9.
The sabotage halved tanker loadings of about 1.7 million barrels per day.
Last Thursday, Hashem conveyed that Iraqi exports of crude were still lagging at one million bpd, and that it would take another two days to reach the standard rate of 1.7 or 1.8 bpd. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
