IRAQI CRUDE EXPORTS DIP UNDER UN ‘OIL-FOR-FOOD’ PROGRAMME

["Kessaissia, Mazine" <mazine.kessaissia@mail.utexas.edu>]

New York, Oct 15 2002

Iraq’s petroleum exports under the United Nations oil-for-food programme 
registered an average low of about 600,000 barrels per day last week, 
according to the office running the scheme, which allows Baghdad to use a 
portion of its crude revenues to purchase humanitarian relief.            

The weekly total could rise, however, because a number of vessels that began 
loading during that period did not complete the process until after it ended, 
the UN Office of the Iraq Programme said.        

With a total of 4.1 million barrels sold during the week, Iraq earned an 
estimated €107 million or $105 million in revenue, bringing to $3.3 billion 
the total since the current phase of the programme began on 30 May. That 
figure falls far short of the $7 billion that Iraq would need to export during 
the current phase, which ends on 25 November, in order to meet its 
humanitarian programme budget of over $5 billion, since the relief effort 
receives 72 per cent of the oil revenue.       

A shortfall from earlier phases of the programme has left 1,441 approved 
humanitarian supply contracts, worth over $2.68 billion, without funds, 
according to the OIP said.