39 Iraqi contracts approved

The United Nations has ratified 39 oil contracts submitted by Iraq under the fourth phase of its oil-for-food deal with the world body, a UN official said yesterday.

At the UN information office in Baghdad, Awat al-Borzenji quoting a UN report, said the 39 contracts approved were out of 42 submitted by Iraq and amounted to 253.3 million barrels.

The Security Council in February voted to raise the amount of oil Iraq could sell to $5.25 billion worth from $2 billion over six months in an effort to ease the effect of sanctions imposed for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Baghdad's government says it is unable to produce the $5.25 billion in oil sales over six months at current prices. It is planning to export $4 billion worth of oil, but UN oil experts have put Iraq's capability at closer to $3 billion over six months due to the lack of needed equipment for the oil industry infrastructure.

Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Mohammed Rashed said last week that oil exports under the accord might be disrupted by a lack of spare parts to repair the dilapidated oil industry.