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To: Jeffrey Beckman who wrote (19425)	4/16/1998 8:51:00 PM
From: Lucretius	Respond to of 95453

Thursday April 16, 7:53 pm Eastern Time FOCUS-Oil moves higher on simmering Iraq tension LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed on Thursday after Iraq demanded an end to U.N. sanctions and on reports that President Saddam Hussein might not allow unlimited access to weapons inspectors. Benchmark Brent blend for June was up 45 cents at $14.66 a barrel by 1619 GMT. Iraq warned that a ''new crisis'' could develop if the United Nations did not lift the trade embargo. A statement issued by the ruling Ba'ath Party leadership and the Revolutionary Command Council after a joint meeting headed by Saddam called for the implementation of a U.N. resolution ''with no delay as a stepping stone to lifting the embargo completely and comprehensively.'' The United Nations passed a resolution after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 stipulating that sanctions could only be lifted once it was satisfied that Iraq had dismantled all weapons of mass destruction. Iraq argues that it has complied. Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, asked if Iraq had dismantled all such weapons, told Reuters: ''Yes this is true.'' But a U.N. report on Thursday said Iraq had threatened to limit weapons inspections on designated presidential sites, despite making an agreement to allow free access to them. ''It seems Saddam Hussein wasn't so open about the inspections of the presidential palaces after all,'' one Brent dealer said. Charles Duelfer, who led weapons inspections in March and April, said Iraq was still demanding limits to U.N. inspections despite February's agreement, made in the face of threats of U.S.-led air strikes. Analysts said the market would not overreact to the renewed Iraqi tension and would level out in the $14.50-$15.00 range. ''We've seen this often before, haven't we?,'' said Chris Bellew, energy futures broker and director of brokerage Prudential Bache in London. ''I think probably the market is not ready to move significantly higher,'' he added. Bellew said the overall outlook still hinged on the adherence to production cuts by world oil producers. Iraq was exporting crude last week at a rate of about 1.57 million barrels per day (bpd), just under its 1.6 million bpd capacity, but the United Nations voted on Wednesday to allow Iraq to import $300 million worth of equipment to overhaul their oil facilities. The market also got a boost late in the afternoon from a German buy tender for 22 million barrels of crude oil for its strategic stocks. Thursday's gains follow a strong performance on Wednesday afternoon after Venezuela reiterated its commitment to cutting 200,000 bpd as part of a producers' pact meant to boost world oil prices. Prices in dollars per barrel: April 16 April 15 (1619 GMT) (close) IPE June Brent 14.66 14.21 NYMEX May light crude 15.85 15.46 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------