In phase eight of the oil-for-food programme, Iraq has so
far sent the United Nations Office of the Iraq Programme 385 contracts for the
purchase of humanitarian goods and equipment, with a total value of $1.6
billion. For the same period to 13 October, Iraq has exported $6.7 billion
worth of oil, 53 per cent of which is allocated to the humanitarian programme
in the central and southern Iraq.
The Government of Iraq estimated that there should be $7.05
billion available for the humanitarian programme in the centre/south of Iraq
in phase eight. The contracts submitted so far represent 22 per cent of that
amount. Around 80 per cent of the contracts received for phase eight are for
food supplies. Phase eight began on 9 June and will end on 5 December.
In the week to 13 October, Iraq exported 16.3 million
barrels of oil for revenue of around $450 million. The total exports in phase
eight are now 263.1 million barrels. The United Nations oil overseers and the
Security Council’s 661 Sanctions Committee last week approved two additional
contracts for the sale of oil to the same company in the United Arab Emirates
- one for 500,000 barrels of Basrah Light for the United States and the other
for one million barrels of Kirkuk crude for Europe.
This brings the total approved contracts for the sale of
Iraqi oil to 111 with a total volume of 423.59 million barrels (250 million
Basrah and 173 Kirkuk. Since the start of the oil-for-food programme on 10
December 1996, Iraq has exported 2,093 million barrels of oil with a value of
over $35.7 billion.
In the week to 13 October, the Committee approved 45
additional contracts for the humanitarian programme in Iraq. In phases IV to
VIII, the Committee has now approved around $8.41 billion worth of contracts
for humanitarian supplies, while 2,208 contracts worth almost $1.17 billion
have been approved for the purchase of oil industry spare parts and equipment.
The total value of contracts on hold in all the sectors of
the programme is now more than $2.25 billion - comprising over $1.97 billion
for humanitarian supplies and approximately $279 million for oil industry
spare parts and equipment. Forty per cent of the holds for humanitarian
supplies are in the electricity sector where there are 201 contracts worth
$896 million on hold, including three with values above $100 million.
During the week to 13 October, 24 contracts were released
from hold worth $51.2 million, while another 52 new contracts worth $115.8
million were placed on hold. Released contracts include trailer trucks,
asphalt recycler, drilling rigs, turbine equipment and chain conveyers for
silos. Among contracts put on hold were substation equipment, irrigation
system, pumping station, trucks and cranes.
