|
Iraq To Cut Oil Exports, Saudi Arabia To Step In
BAGHDAD, June 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iraq has decided to cut oil exports from June 4 when the current phase of the UN oil-for-food program runs out but Saudi Arabia said it would compensate for shortages caused by the Iraqi decision.
The suspension will last "until further notice", the Iraqi News Agency (INA) said.
Iraq's decision to cut exports came a day after the UN Security Council extended the program by one month to give the 15-member organization time to reform the 11-year-old sanctions regime against Baghdad.
Iraq had warned it would reject an extension rather than a regular six-month term of the program, which allows Baghdad to export crude under UN supervision to finance imports of humanitarian goods.
Iraq stopped pumping oil to Turkey on Saturday in line with its decision to halt oil exports from Monday when the current phase of the UN oil-for-food program runs out, a senior Turkish official said, Anatolia news agency reported.
The flow of Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in southern Turkey stopped at 0100 GMT, the head of the state gas and Oil Company BOTAS, Gokhan Yardim said.
Iraq's exports under the oil-for-food deal pass through Ceyhan as well as the Mina al-Bakr terminal in the northern Gulf.
The Iraqi decision to suspend exports will wipe around 2.2 million barrels per day off the world oil market.
Ahead of an OPEC meeting in Vienna next week, Saudi Arabia stepped in swiftly after the Iraqi announcement with an offer to compensate for any shortfall on the world market, AFP said.
The Security Council ignored the threat by Iraq to disrupt its oil-for-food program Friday and adopted a resolution to extend the program by one month instead of the usual six months, adding that by July 3 it would "consider new arrangements" for the trade embargo on Iraq.
All 15 council members voted for the resolution, which expressed their "intention to adopt and implement such new arrangements" on July 4 for an initial period of 190 days.
It said the arrangements would "improve significantly" Iraq's ability to import civilian goods, and "improve controls to prevent the sale or supply" have prohibited arms sales, news agencies said.
They would also "prevent the flow of revenues to Iraq" from smuggling outside the oil-for-food program.
The move is intended to allow more discussion of a new sanctions regime, the "smart sanctions", proposed by the United States and United Kingdom.
However Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said the sanctions reforms proposed by Britain and the United States would "harm not only Iraq but all the partners of Baghdad among its friends and brothers".
Both the US and the UK want to abolish the embargo on civilian trade, while tightening a ban on weapons and controls on smuggling.
Exports under the oil-for-food program reportedly earned about 16 billion dollars in the past year, more than two-thirds of which went into an escrow account to finance imports approved by the UN.
Sanctions were imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Iraq has continuously called upon the international community to ease the impact of sanctions that has led to the deterioration in Baghdad's economy and the suffering of the impoverished Iraqi population.
|
