Iraq is free to set the price of its own oil, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Sunday after Baghdad halted crude exports in a pricing row with the United Nations.
"Iraq is free to set crude prices according to its own interests," Aziz told the official INA news agency.
When Iraq's customers "refuse these prices, exports stop in the absence of new contracts," Aziz said during talks with former French foreign minister Claude Cheysson and an accompanying delegation, according to INA.
On Friday, Iraq halted oil exports that are authorized under a UN humanitarian program for the sanctions-hit country.
Baghdad has pinned the blame for the move, which takes 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) off the world market, on the United Nations for rejecting its pricing formula for oil exports in December – BAGHDAD (AFP)
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