WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - As Iraq asks the U.N. to permit a surcharge increase for its oil sales for the month of December, news reports convey differences on whether Iraq accepts or defies the U.N. refusal of the demand.
News reports from the Iraqi News Agency reveal that a spokesperson for Iraqi oil minister Amer Mohammed Rashid said his government decided not to raise the December price of oil because it would deem it uncompetitive.
Iraq's decision came a day after the U.N. Sanctions Committee said oil companies can continue loading Iraqi crude onto tankers beyond Friday, but cannot pay for it until Iraq proposes prices for December that are in line with fair market value, according to the Associated press.
Oil companies remained in confusion over whether to fill up their ships with Iraqi oil without knowing when and for how much it could be sold.
But other reports said that the Iraqi oil exports came to a halt on Friday after Baghdad insisted that buyers of its crude oil pay a surcharge outside the terms of the United Nations oil-for-food program.
According to a wire story by Reuters no oil had been loaded at Iraq's Turkish outlet of Ceyhan, or the Gulf port of Mina al-Bakr,since late Thursday, ahead of Iraq's December 1st deadline for the surcharge payments
Turkish sources confirmed that the flow of oil through the pipeline that feeds Ceyhan from Iraq's northern Kirkuk oilfields had been stopped by Baghdad.
Iraqi authorities hoped to raise a $0.50 per barrel surcharge and that should be paid to an Iraqi account hoping to break the sanctions imposed by the U.N., which require all sale revenues be directed to a U.N account in New York.
The embargo and economic sanctions impose a mechanism that requires paying all charges and reparation finances following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War to be directed to the Oil for Food Program.
Iraqis have complained that what remains after paying into the U.N. program is usually not enough to cover medical and food supplies.
At least two countries said they would be ready to compensate for the loss of Iraq’s share of oil on the international market.
Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the OPEC group, and the U.S., whose officials said the country would be willing to tap open some of its oil national reserves, said that they could help to alleviate any possible oil shortage or price increase by pumping more oil in to the market.
