Crude prices fell back on Monday after Baghdad accepted another roll-over of the UN "oil-for-food" programme, removing the threat of interruptions to Iraqi exports.
A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for January delivery was quoted at 18.75 dollars from 19.14 at the close on Friday. The New York January light sweet crude contract closed up 82 cents on Friday at 19.44 dollars a barrel.
"A lot of the reasons why the market rallied on Friday was because Iraq had threatened to take away oil from the market," said Paul Goodhew, a dealer with the GNI brokerage. "There was no loading (of oil) scheduled to take place from December 1. But all of a sudden on the weekend, the loading took place."
The five-year oil-for-food programme, under which Iraq exports oil in return for food and medical supplies, was rolled over until May 2002. Previous roll-overs have whipped up rows between Baghdad and the United Nations, threatening disruption to Iraqi supplies -- AFP
