WASHINGTON, May 11: The Bush administration will urge lawmakers to take language out of energy legislation that would ban U.S. imports of Iraq crude oil, a State Department official told Reuters on Friday.

The administration opposes the import ban because it goes against White House support for rolling over the United Nations program that allows Iraq to sell oil in order to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian goods.

Being that we are signed on to the (UN) oil-for-food program...boycotting oil imports from Iraq just really hurts the already-suffering people of Iraq, the official said.

The UN Security Council, of which the United States is a member, is expected to vote next week on extending the oil-for-food program.

The oil import ban could also hurt the US economy, as Iraq is the sixth biggest oil supplier to the United States. Last year, Iraq shipped an average 778,000 barrels of crude per day to the US market.

Nonetheless, the Senate voted overwhelmingly last month to ban imports of Iraqi oil until Baghdad allowed United Nations weapons inspectors back into Iraq. Iraq has not allowed weapons inspectors in the country since December, 1998.

Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski of Alaska pushed to have the import ban included in the energy legislation passed by the Senate.

The House of Representatives did not include an Iraqi oil import ban in the energy bill it passed last year.

Senate and House lawmakers are expected to meet this month to work out differences in their energy bills and try to finalize an energy package that would be acceptable to the Bush administration.—Reuters