Iraq has shifted gears after accusing Kuwait of stealing its oil by turning on Saudi Arabia. According to the official Iraqi news agency (INA) on September 19th, Baghdad has written to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to complain about damage inflicted on the Iraqi-Saudi pipeline since Riyadh closed the line after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
According to INA, the letter to Annan said that: “Iraq holds the Saudi regime responsible for the damage inflicted on the Iraqi pipeline which extends in the Saudi territory to the Red Sea because of suspension of oil exports since August 13th, 1990.”
The letter further said that: “Export via the pipeline was suspended under the will of the Saudi side claiming that storage capacity of al-Moajjez terminal was full.” According to the letter, the pipeline was commissioned in September 1989 and carried Iraqi crude to the Red Sea for export.
Shortly after the Gulf war, Saudi Arabia appropriated a few million barrels of crude stored at the al-Moajjez terminal and processed them in its refineries. According to the letter to Annan, “When oil exports via the pipeline were suspended, some 11 million barrels remained at the al-Moajjez terminal as well as oil that remained in the whole network of the pipeline.”
( oilnavigator )
