State Department Noon Briefing

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2000 12:40 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

Q: All right, a couple of things come to mind. One is obviously
looking for your - the US - reaction to Iraq's flip-flop on oil. And
is there any wiggle room there? Do the people here see it as a
straight reversal, or is there some - given Iraq's track record you
never can be sure - are they back to where they were before they
weren't there any more?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I think, first of all, given that it is Iraq and
what we've seen in the past, that we don't want to count our chickens
before they hatch. We don't have the independent confirmation that
Iraq has resumed its exports. The UN overseers report that Iraq is not
allowing loadings into tankers.

We reiterate that Iraq is the one that has chosen to spend oil
exports, even though the Security Council agreed to allow shipments to
continue while the UN and Iraq concluded a pricing mechanism that
reflects a fair market value for December exports; and, once again,
make quite clear we continue our work with other governments and with
the International Energy Agency, and we are ready to take action to
add supply very quickly if the situation should warrant.

Q: Just a quick flip. Kuwait seems to be making noises about a need to
get together and decide on output. Is that basically the US position,
that the US would like to see supplies of oil increased? That's really
straightforward --

MR. BOUCHER: I think certainly that has been our position in general
in terms of the last several months to say that we think that steps
needed to be taken to stabilize the price of oil at a lower level.

Q: Back on Iraq, do you feel confident that Saudi Arabia and some of
our other oil-producing allies will have enough oil to make up the
difference if, in fact, they go ahead with the embargo?

MR. BOUCHER: I think we made quite clear last week, both in our
statements here as well as the Energy Department and elsewhere, the
White House, that it was the combination of planning in terms of
surges, surge capacity in various places, as well as the system of
reserves and stocks that have been put together in various countries
by the International Energy Agency, that would put us in a position to
respond quickly, effectively and readily if we needed to. And that
remains the situation.

Q: I mean, have other countries been cooperative and they are on the
same - are you guys on the same page?

MR. BOUCHER: I think you have seen quite a bit of international
cooperation on this and statements from various quarters.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:15 P.M.)