The Oil Agreement with Iran Needs More Study - Iraqi Oil Minister: No Increases of Oil Products' Prices

Al Mendhar:

13/08/2005

Baghdad: Ibrahim Bahr Al Oloum, Iraqi oil minister, denied that the ministry has a current intention for raising the prices of oil products. He confirmed that the Iraqi government is eager to maintain the governmental support for fuel and maintaining the current supported prices.

Bahr Al Oloum said that he submitted a suggestion to the ministers' council, in this regard, on behalf of the finance and planning ministers. The suggestion was discussed in the ministers' council session, which was held two weeks ago. He pointed out that the Prime Minister, Ibrahim Al Ja'fari, has ordered the creation of a committee for studying the prices.

It is worth mentioning that Leith Kabba, spokesman of the Iraqi government, has previously announced that this suggestion would not be adopted and that his government is against that, due to the difficult conditions, which citizens are experiencing.

Al Hayat has stated the details of the project of a law, which the Iraqi finance ministry has submitted to the ministers' council. The project prescribes doubling fuel prices, so that the price of a liter of gasoline would be 500 dinars, instead of the current price of 50 dinars.Assem Jihad, ministry spokesman, disclosed a new mechanism, which would be adopted by the ministry in the coming few days, for fairly distributing gasoline to citizens. He also said that the survey, which the ministry has conducted regarding the distribution of white oil and liquid gas, has indicated the desire of citizens to rely on the agents for the ration cards' foodstuffs for distributing the said two products, as they are acquainted with the included families.

The Oil Agreement with Iran

Sources from the Iraqi National Assembly told Al Hayat that they deny that the Iraqi-Iranian oil agreement, which has been reached during the visit of the Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Ja'fari to Iran last month, has been discussed on behalf of the Assembly members or the economic committee in the National Assembly.

These sources said that the said agreement needs more study and inspection of its economic feasibility and its short-term and long-term objectives, with regard to the result that it can achieve on the level of fulfilling the Iraqi needs of oil products, which Iraq is seeking to secure, due to the exportation of quantities of Iraqi crude oil from Al Basra station to Abadan refineries, through three pipes, which are also used in supplying Iraqi with products that are refined in these refineries, which are adjacent to Al Basra province. In Iraqi political media, there are enquiries on Iran's ability to supply Iraq with oil products at economic prices, especially as Tehran imports great quantities of fuel from the international market (approximately 150 thousand barrels a day).

Al Hayat