(23 - 29 November 2002)
Averaging 1.7 million
barrels per day, Iraqi oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food
programme totalled 11.9 million barrels in the week ending 29 November –
down from the previous week’s high of 17.1 million barrels. Completed in
five loadings each from the two authorised terminals of Mina al-Bakr and
Ceyhan – with 6.8 million barrels and 5.1 million barrels,
respectively, the week’s exports generated an estimated revenue
of €260 million (euros) or $258 million, at current prices and rate of
exchange. The average price of Iraqi crude was approximately €21.55 or
$21.35 per barrel.
With an additional oil purchase
contract approved by the United Nations oil overseers during the past week,
the total number of approved contracts during the current phase XII of the
programme reached 203. This corresponds to 494.7 million barrels of oil, of
which 223.4 million barrels have been shipped out of Iraq by the
contract-holders.
The Security Council extended phase XII for a further nine-day period,
which is now set to expire on 4 December 2002. Estimated revenue in this phase
presently stands at €5.3 billion or $5.28 billion. Iraq would need to export
about $7 billon worth of oil during the current phase in order to meet its
humanitarian budget of over $5 billion.
Since the beginning of this programme on 10 December 1996,
Iraq has exported some 3.25 billion barrels of oil at an estimated $38.6
billion and €22.9 billion ($20.9 billion) in revenue. With 72 per
cent of the oil proceeds allocated to the humanitarian programme, over $40
billion worth of contracts for the purchase of various humanitarian supplies
and equipment have been approved by the Security Council’s 661 sanctions
committee and the Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP), including about $3.6
billion worth of oil industry spare parts and equipment. So far, about $25.6
billion worth of supplies and equipment have been delivered to Iraq, including
$1.6 billion worth of oil spare parts and equipment. In addition, $10.6
billion worth of supplies and equipment, for which funds have been available,
are in the production and delivery pipeline, including $1.9 worth of oil
industry equipment.
Owing to a
cumulative revenue shortfall from phase VIII of the programme, 1,671 approved
humanitarian supply contracts, worth more than $3.1 billion, are currently
without available funds. The sectors affected by the revenue shortfall are:
agriculture with $576 million; food handling with $461 million; electricity
with $449 million; health with $374 million; water and sanitation with $360
million; housing with $347 million; education with $291 million;
telecommunications and transportation with $252 million.
Out
of a total of 4,090 contracts for humanitarian supplies worth about $7.88
billion processed by the United Nations Secretariat under the new set of
procedures of Security Council resolution 1409 (2002), based on the Goods
Review List (GRL), OIP has approved 2,738 contracts worth about $3.7 billion
(47 per cent), after having been assessed by the United Nations Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) as not containing any GRL items.
The
approvals include 893 contracts worth about $1.38 billion that had been
previously on hold by the 661 Committee and re-circulated and reviewed by
UNMOVIC/IAEA under paragraph 18 of the procedures of resolution 1409 (2002).
UNMOVIC/IAEA
have categorized 1,212 contracts worth $3.73 billion (47.3 per cent) as “GRL
non-compliant”, requiring additional technical information from suppliers to
enable final assessment.
So
far, 151 contracts worth about $509 million were found by UNMOVIC/IAEA to
contain GRL items, of which 14 contracts worth $4.17 million were approved and
43 contracts worth $72.6 million denied approval by the 661 Committee. The
remaining GRL-contracts were at various stages of action.
