VIENNA: Seven Arab oil-producing countries today [March 18] provisionally lifted their embargo on deliveries to the United States. The decision was made by the Ministers of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) with Libya and Syria dissenting. … The raising of the embargo was approved by Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iraq ... did not take part in the meeting.

Algerian Industry and Energy Minister Belaid Abdes Salam, the current OAPEC Chairman, stressed the provisional character of the move... . Mr. Abdes Salam read a statement which blamed Israel for the current oil crisis. The statement said Syria would endorse today’s decision … only when Israel had withdrawn from occupied Arab territories, including Jerusalem.

Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the Saudi Arabian Oil Minister … made no reference to the Netherlands and Denmark which were refused Arab oil because of their backing for Israel at the height of the Ramazan war. However, he said, Italy and West Germany would ... be treated … as “friendly States.”

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024