Iraq is urging Arab states to slash their oil exports by 50 percent in solidarity with the Palestinians while Saudi Arabia is pledging to maintain a stable oil market. 

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made the appeal in a speech broadcast by Iraq's state-run television and radio. He urged Arab oil producers to cut their crude oil exports by 50 percent and deprive the United States and Israel of the half that is exported. He said an embargo should apply to any country that resells Arab oil to United States or Israel. 

On April 8, the Iraqi leader said Iraq was suspending all its oil exports for 30 days to protest Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territories. No other country followed Iraq's lead. 

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told a conference in Washington Monday that his country and fellow producers in the OPEC cartel will fill any shortfall from Iraq's export halt. He said a stable oil market is important both to those who provide oil and to those who consume it. 

In published remarks, the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a grouping of six oil-rich Arab states, said it is no longer feasible for Arabs to use an oil embargo. GCC Secretary-General Abdul-Rahman al-Attiya said the oil weapon is outdated and not beneficial, and that Arabs will be the losers if they try to use it. 

He told Kuwait's Al-Rai al-Aam newspaper that using oil as a weapon might have been more effective in the 1970s. But now, he said, the U.S. strategic oil reserve and the presence of oil producers outside OPEC make the oil weapon unfeasible. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

Email this article to a friend.
Printer Friendly Version