UN's oil-for-food programme releases latest figures on Iraqi petroleum exports

Iraq's oil exports in the past week netted an estimated $180 million in revenue at current prices and rate of exchange, despite the number of barrels shipped remaining below average, at just over 1.5 million per day, the United Nations office overseeing the humanitarian "oil-for-food" programme said today.

The new income for the week ending 18 January brought to about $922 million the total estimated revenue in the programme's current phase XI, which runs from 1 December 2001 to 29 May, according to the latest figures released by the UN Office of the Iraq Programme (OIP).

The total value of contracts placed on hold by the Security Council's 661 sanctions committee has surpassed the $5 billion mark, the OIP said.

Meanwhile OIP's Executive Director, Benon Sevan, continued his working visit to Iraq, visiting three northern governorates this week, a UN spokesperson said today.

Mr. Sevan travelled to Sulaymaniyah, Erbil and Dahuk following an initial round of discussions in Baghdad with a number of Iraqi government officials - including the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Oil, Health, Trade, Interior and the Commissioner of Electricity - on the implementation of the "oil-for-food programme," Marie Okabe told a press briefing in New York.