Iraq Accuses US, Britain of Blocking Its Oil Price FormulaIraq has accused the United States and Britain of blocking its proposed oil pricing formula for sales of its oil under the United Nations oil-for-food program, the official daily Babil reported on Saturday, December 2.But newspaper made no mention of the reports that Iraq had halted its oil exports through Ceyhan, Turkey near northern Iraq and the southern Iraqi port city of Al-Baker, the two main outlets for the export of Iraqi oil. Neither has the Iraqi government made any official announcement in this respect. Baghdad has threatened to cut off crude export beginning from midnight Thursday unless its customers agree to pay a 50-cent premium per barrel over the official purchase price from December 1. However, the UN Sanctions Committee, dominated by the US and Britain, on Thursday told buyers of Iraqi oil that they may load crude but not pay for it until an oil pricing agreement is reached between the UN and Iraq. The Babil report condemned the "ill intentions" of the US, Britain for preventing buyers from loading Iraq's oil "as there is no pricing formula agreed upon" between the UN and Iraq. "Iraq holds the US and Britain responsible for any negative effects that might be caused by non-loading Iraq's oil" as a result of the rejection of Iraq's oil pricing formula, the report said. It has been reported that Baghdad's State Oil Marketing Organization sent a fax to its buyers saying that unless they pay the surcharge directly into an account outside of the control of the UN, they will lose their cargoes. The Iraqi move is believed to be aimed to breach the oil-for-food program, as under the program, all Iraq's oil revenues are entered into a UN-administered account. The UN Sanctions Committee on Tuesday rejected Iraq's proposed oil pricing formula, saying that it did not reflect a fair market value. |
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