Iraq's oil sales under UN supervision surged to 17 million barrels last week, from 12 million the previous week, the office administering the UN oil-for-food program said Tuesday, August 7.
In the week ending August 3, there were six loadings at Iraq's Gulf port of Mina al-Bakr and three at the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, the only two export outlets authorized under the UN sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990.
The average price of Iraqi oil last week was around $21.96 a barrel, and the sales earned an estimated $356 million, the office said in its weekly update.
Iraq has exported 51.7 million barrels of crude since July 4, the start of the current phase of the program. The phase is the 10th since the program was established in December 1996 to enable Iraq to import essential goods under UN supervision.
Four new purchase contracts for nine million barrels of crude were approved last week by the UN oil overseers and the sanctions committee, taking to 69 the number of contracts awaiting completion in the current phase.
Iraq halted oil-for-food exports on June 4 for five weeks in protest at a one-month rollover of the program ordered by the Security Council instead of the usual six-month extension.
The unusually short extension heralded an unsuccessful attempt to revamp the council's sanctions regime and introduce so-called "smart sanctions" against Iraq by July 3.
Iraq resumed oil exports after reaching a deal with the United Nations on conditions for a 150-day extension of the program. —(AFP)
© Agence France Presse
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
