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To: Greywolf who wrote (91480)	6/11/2001 7:23:13 PM
From: Greywolf	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Saudi seizes Iraqi pipeline Upstream 20:12 GMT Saudi Arabia has seized ownership of an Iraqi crude oil pipeline that crosses its territory which has been shut down since Baghdad's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The move is certain to increase tensions between the two Gulf neighbors, stirred up last week by Saudi allegations that Iraq has staged a series of raids on Saudi border outposts in recent months. Saudi Arabia, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said it was taking over the pipeline because Iraq had made threats against it and committed aggression, "thereby causing serious damage to the Saudi people in terms of lives and property, as well as to natural resources and the environment". It did not offer specifics. The takeover, which took effect last Thursday, includes pumping stations, storage tanks, communications system, loading facilities and a maritime terminal at the Red Sea port of Mu'jiz. The Iraq-Saudi pipeline cost at least $2.25 billion to build and had the capacity to bring 1.6 million barrels per day to the Red Sea. It had been in full operation less than a year, from September 1989 until Aug. 13, 1990, alternately carrying Saudi and Iraqi crude to the Red Sea for export, when it was shut down. Saudi Arabia disconnected the pipeline and blocked both ends after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait. Saudi Arabia last week accused Iraq of staging 11 raids on Saudi border outposts in March, April and May and warned the Security Council more such attacks could have "grave consequences", said Reuters. But Iraq's UN ambassador, Mohammed Aldouri, wrote Annan in a letter circulated on Monday that Saudi Arabia had fabricated the charges to build support for efforts by Britain and the United States to overhaul the UN sanctions on Iraq. Washington and London hope to revise the UN oil-for-food program, an exception to the sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990, by easing controls on civilian goods imported by Iraq while tightening restrictions on military-related supplies and clamping down on smuggling. - A case of realpolitik on the ground.. Iraq holding back on oil export has found a goodly weapon as they have $4 billion in the UN account to live on while the world worries about the price of oil. Look for this one to hot up!