Washington, May 10: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday urged the United Nations to quickly end trading sanctions against Iraq, so the country's crude oil can be exported to free up storage space for domestic gasoline and cooking oil. "Within the next couple of weeks, the (Iraqi) oil fields will be producing a sufficient quantity of oil that it will very shortly fill all of the storage capacity in the area," Powell told reporters after talks with the emir of Qatar.
Powell said the oil has to be shipped so Iraq's refineries will have storage facilities to hold other petroleum products used by Iraqi consumers.

"We don't want the refineries to shut down, because the refineries produce gasoline and cooking gas and the other things that are needed by the people of Iraq," he said.
He also said exporting Iraq's oil will provide needed revenue to boost the country's economy and help its people. Bureau Report