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To: excardog who wrote (81237)	12/10/2000 2:02:46 PM
From: excardog	Respond to of 95453

UPDATE 3-Bad weather delays resumption of Iraq oil exports December 10, 2000 6:48am Source: Reuters (Recasts with bad weather, fresh quotes, pvs DUBAI) BAGHDAD, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Bad weather blocked the resumption of Iraqi oil exports on Sunday, delaying the end to a 10-day suspension in flows caused by a price dispute between Baghdad and the United Nations, an Iraqi oil industry source said on Sunday. ``Because of rough weather, lifting of Iraqi oil from Mina al Bakr has not started yet,'' the source told Reuters. An Iraqi oil official had said earlier in the day the exports would be resuming shortly. ``Oil exports will resume soon, especially at Mina al Bakr,'' the official said. ``Ships are near the terminal and soon they will go to the terminal.'' The industry source said resuming exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan was not immediately possible because there were no tankers near by. ``We are pumping oil via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline. We have not suspended oil pumping through the pipeline, but because there are currently no oil tankers at Ceyhan, there are no loadings there,'' he said. The imminent resumption of some 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of Iraqi oil sales comes on the heels of Baghdad's tacit approval on Saturday of a United Nations resolution extending the oil-for-food programme for another six-month phase. Less than 24 hours before Iraq gave its apparent nod to the U.N. oil sales programme, a U.N. committee agreed to Baghdad's revised proposals for December oil prices. Iraq cut off its oil flows, about five percent of the world's exports, after U.N. oil overseers rejected Baghdad's original December oil prices for being too low. Industry sources said Iraq's original discounts were an attempt to compensate its customers for a 50-cent per barrel surcharge to be paid outside the U.N.'s control. Oil lifters refused to cough up the payment which many described as a blatant violation of U.N. sanctions imposed against Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Baghdad later denied it had made such a demand and oil traders said it has subsequently been dropped. NEW CONTRACTS SOON The oil official said state oil marketer SOMO was preparing to sign new crude oil contracts under the ninth phase of the U.N. oil-for-food programme which began on December 6. The package allows Iraq to sign unlimited amounts of oil under U.N. supervision in exchange for food, medicine and humanitarian aid. ``We will sign ninth phase contracts soon,'' the official said. In the meantime, five oil tankers -- Jade, Astro Beta, Crude Traveller, Panormos and Sahara -- were queued up to load Basrah Light grade from Iraq's Mina al Bakr terminal, industry sources said. It was unclear whether the U.N. would count those vessels as eighth or ninth phase contract volume. But the oil official said the phase classification was not an issue. ``Whether it's eighth or ninth phase, this will not be a problem,'' he said. Industry sources said the U.N. had already extended a significant amount of eighth phase oil contract volume until January 15, honouring Baghdad's earlier request. It remained to be seen whether Baghdad would carry out its threat to punish those companies supplying U.S. companies with its crude oil. ``We must see what the government says,'' the Iraqi oil official said. ``Then we will follow instructions. The United States, Iraq's biggest enemy, has been lifting some 750,000 barrels per day of Iraqi oil via third parties.