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The following story is posted with the permission of the United States Information Service.

3 March 1999

US ANXIOUS TO SEE IRAQ OIL FLOW RESUME

(Ambassador Soderberg: US pilots do not target pipeline) (550)
By Judy Aita
USIA United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The United States, along with the other members of the Security Council, wants to see Iraqi oil exports under the "oil-for-food" program "up and running as quickly as possible," US Ambassador Nancy Soderberg said March 3.

Talking with journalists after the head of the UN's Iraq program briefed council members privately, Soderberg said that "there was general agreement that the oil must begin to flow and that we want to get it up and running as quickly as possible."

The Iraqi pipeline "was not hit; the pumping stations were not hit; and we absolutely do not target civilians -- that's absolutely false," the ambassador said, referring to Baghdad's claims that US pilots hit the pipeline, stopping the oil exports.

"The area that was hit was, in our belief, part of the Iraqi air defense system communications area. The Iraq command and control is part of the area that is threatening our pilots," she said.

Soderberg said that she reminded the council that "US forces in the region are acting to protect the vulnerable population of Iraq."

"All of our actions are taken with that in mind, pursuant to Security Council resolutions here, and any action that we take is simply to protect our own forces," the ambassador said.

"Within the region, our pilots have been increasingly targeted. We are taking measures in defense of ourselves to protect our pilots and that has been the case since the beginning of the no-fly zones and it will continue," she said. "We will continue to move in our self-defense."

Benon Sevan, executive director of the UN Office of the Iraq Program, told the council that Iraqi oil could begin to flow again within a day and that there was enough oil in storage to carry on the exports through the next few days.

The flow of oil through the pipeline between Kirkuk and Ceyhan stopped on Sunday evening, February 28, because of the loss of a communications repeater station about 125 kilometers away, according to Saybolt, the company retained by the UN to monitor the oil flow, Sevan told the council.

Saybolt has been informed by Iraq's Northern Oil Company, which operates the pipeline, that it is working to bridge the communications gap caused by the loss of the repeater states and they hope to restore the link March 3, he also reported.

Saybolt agents have observed Iraqi technicians working on restoring the communications links, Sevan added. If communication links are restored, Saybolt advised that pumping could resume almost immediately.

Up until now there has been no interruption in the export of Iraqi oil via Ceyhan, Sevan said. If the pipeline is back in operation within the coming 24 hours, Saybolt said that the loading schedule at Ceyhan will continue with only minimal delays.

The pipeline carries half of Iraq's oil exports. Currently Iraq is exporting 2 million barrels a day for an average price of around $9 a barrel, the UN says.

Damage was to the RS-6 communication station -- one of eight such facilities along the Iraqi segment of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline between Kirkuk and Zakho.