Iraq earned $190 million in oil exports before last week's suspension, UN says

Iraq has not resumed exporting petroleum under the United Nations oil-for-food humanitarian programme, but last week the country did sell several million barrels that had been lifted previously, the UN said today.

In the days before Iraq announced a month-long suspension of its oil exports on 8 April, a total of 8.6 million barrels of oil were lifted, the UN Office of the Iraq Programme reported. At an average price of approximately €25.35 (euros) or $22.30 per barrel, last week’s exports netted an estimated €220 million or $190 million in revenue.

Also over the past week, the Security Council committee monitoring the sanctions against Iraq released from hold 11 contracts worth $43 million, and placed on hold 48 new contracts valued at $76 million. Currently, the total value of contracts on hold stands at $5.1 billion.