Iraq's oil sales hit 12 million barrels last week, the second full week of exports since Baghdad resolved a row with the UN Security Council over sanctions, the UN said Wednesday.
In the week ending July 27, there were four loadings at the Arabian Gulf port of Mina Al Bakr and two at the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, AFP quoted the office administering the UN oil-for-food program as saying.
The volume shipped, averaging 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), was down on the previous week's total of 15.9 million barrels, equivalent to almost 2.27 million bpd.
The average price of Iraqi oil last week was around $21.70 (24.82 euros) a barrel, and the reduced sales earned an estimated $252 million (287 million euros), the office said in a statement.
Iraq has exported 34.7 million barrels of crude since July 4, the start of the current phase 10 of the program, it added.
Six new purchase contracts for 37 million barrels of crude were approved last week by the UN oil overseers and the sanctions committee.
Iraq has now exported a total of more than 2.5 billion barrels of oil for an estimated revenue of $44.9 billion, held in both dollar and euro accounts, since the program was launched in December 1996.
The office also announced the transfer of $75 million to the account for the purchase of humanitarian supplies as a result of UN administrative cost minimization efforts.
Iraq halted oil-for-food exports on June 4 for five weeks in protest at a one-month rollover of the program ordered by the Security Council instead of the usual six-month extension.
It resumed oil exports after reaching a deal with the United Nations on conditions for a 150-day extension of the program under which sanctions-hit Baghdad exports crude to pay for essential goods for its 22-million population.
Iraq received Russian help last month in foiling a US-backed British proposal to impose "smart" sanctions on the Arab state.
The "smart" sanctions would have loosened controls on imports of goods with no military application, while strengthening controls on any goods with possible military uses – Albawaba.com
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