Crude prices fell back on Monday, December 3 after Baghdad accepted another roll-over of the UN "oil-for-food" program, removing the threat of interruptions to Iraqi exports.
A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for January delivery was quoted at $18.75 from $19.14 at the close on Friday. The New York January light sweet crude contract closed up 82 cents on Friday at $19.44 a barrel.
"A lot of the reasons why the market rallied on Friday was because Iraq had threatened to take away oil from the market," said Paul Goodhew, a dealer with the GNI brokerage. "There was no loading (of oil) scheduled to take place from December 1. But all of a sudden on the weekend, the loading took place."
The five-year oil-for-food program, under which Iraq exports oil in return for food and medical supplies, was rolled over until May 2002. Previous roll-overs have whipped up rows between Baghdad and the United Nations, threatening disruption to Iraqi supplies. — (AFP, London)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
