Baghdad told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Tuesday that it would hold Riyadh responsible for any damage to an Iraqi oil pipeline across Saudi Arabia disused since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
"Iraq holds the Saudi regime responsible for damages to the pipeline that used to transport crude from southern Iraq to a Saudi port on the Red Sea," Said Hamid, Iraq's ambassador at the United Nations, said in a message addressed to Annan.
Hamid did not specify the nature of the damages to the pipeline, which was built in the 1980s at a cost of more than 2.2 billion dollars.
"The pipeline worked until August 13, 1990 when Saudi Arabia interrupted the flow of crude under the pretext that excess stocks at the Saudi Al-Ma'jaz terminal favored the closure of the pipeline," Hamid said.
Iraq currently exports its oil through the northern Gulf terminal of Mina al-Bakr, west of Mina al-Amaya, that is in need of repair, and a pipeline running from northern fields through Turkey to the Mediterranean.
Iraq has been under sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait but is authorized to export crude under a UN humanitarian program to finance imports of essential goods – BAGHDAD (AFP)
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