Iraq: November 15, 2000

Archives

Iraq continues to take advantage of high oil prices by threatening to stop shipping its oil. This is done in various forms, the latest one being a demand that the oil companies handling Iraqi oil shipments pay a 50 percent surcharge to an account not controlled by the UN. The oil companies can't do this, as they would be prosecuted by their own governments for violating UN sanctions. If Iraq stops shipping oil, it would have at least a temporary effect on oil prices (they would go up.) Given Iraq's past performance, they would play with oil prices for political purposes even without UN sanctions. 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close