Deliveries of Iraqi oil by pipeline to a Turkish refinery have been on hold for a year for security reasons.

Now it appears that deliveries are being held up for lack of a letter of credit (L/C).

L/C delays

An Iraqi oil official says that the Turkish refiner Tupras has yet to lift 1 million barrels of Iraqi oil via a pipeline to its refinery.

He said that the delivery was delayed because the company has not yet opened a L/C.

Sabotage

Exports of crude oil from Kirkuk in northern Iraq resumed last month after they were suspended for nearly a year due to persistent acts of sabotage to the pipeline.

In December 1997, Tupras signed the first legal oil export contract with Iraq since Saddam Hussain's forces invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.