After days of haggling, Iraq and the United Nations have reached an accord on price of Iraqi oil for December, paving the way for resumption of exports. Iraq had suspended the exports on December 1 after the world body rejected the export price suggested by Baghdad as it was said to be below the prevailing market price.
A United Nations spokesman said the accord was reached Thursday. Iraq, which exports 2.2 million barrels of oil a day, wanted to impose surcharge of 50 cents per barrel and diplomats said it had quoted lower price to ensure that the buyer did not pay more than the market price.
The oil-rich country, under UN economic embargo for last 10 years, is allowed to sell oil to finance purchase of food, medicines and other essential commodities. Despite Iraq stopping supplies, the prices of oil fell as some oil producing countries promised to increase production and the United States and Britain announced plans to release oil from their strategic reserves. Bureau Report