US: Russian tanker carried Iraqi oil
Iraq-USA, Politics, 4/26/2000

The cargo of a Russian tanker diverted due to suspicions it was smuggling Iraqi oil was found to include Iraqi oil, and the Shell petroleum corporation was fined $2 million as a result, US Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said yesterday.

"We determined two things: First, that the oil in the Akademik's fuel tanks was Iraqi oil. And those are the tanks used to fuel its boilers. And we determined that a proportion of the oil in its cargo tanks was of Iraqi origin," Bacon said, adding that 20% of the oil was determined to be of Iraqi origin in a chemical analysis.

Although the Iraqi oil was found to be obtained illegally, "The rest of the oil we determined was legally Shell's. So they will get all the oil, but they're paying a fine for the 20 percent of Iraqi oil," Bacon said. He added that the arrangement was reached by an agreement with Shell.

The tanker will be allowed to continue on its way after its cargo was offloaded.

Bacon stated that the tanker could not "document to the satisfaction of the Maritime Interdiction Force that any Iraqi portion of a cargo was purchased legally." He said that in the future if ships carrying Iraqi oil cannot document that the oil was purchased legally, "the Maritime Interdiction Force will seize the entire cargo."

Previous Stories:
  US congressman calls for lifting sanctions from Iraq   (4/25/2000)
  Iran says detained tankers smuggling Iraqi oil   (4/12/2000)
  Russia blocks questions into Iraq gasoil smuggling   (3/18/2000)

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