81.   That could be anything from modest cutbacks in production to an outright refusal to sell oil to the United States.

82.   That happened because the industry thought, mistakenly, that the United Nations would let Iraq resume selling oil on world markets.

83.   That would allow Elf to concentrate on the business of pumping and selling oil, and making chemicals.

84.   The companies openly acknowledge that they would prefer to sell more oil abroad since the world oil price is four times as profitable as subsidized official prices inside Russia.

85.   The companies argued that the profits resulted from demands by Saudi Arabia to sell the oil below market prices and that they did not seek to avoid U.S. taxes.

86.   The existing UN-sponsored accord, that allows Iraq to sell oil and use the earnings to pay for food and medicine, expires tomorrow.

87.   The decline in oil stocks came after the U.N. reached a tentative agreement to let Iraq sell oil for the first time in six years.

88.   The industry thought the United Nations would let Iraq resume selling oil on world markets, which it has been prevented from doing since the war.

89.   The money is raised through the oil for food program, which allows Iraq to sell oil to meet the needs of its civilians.

90.   The plan would involve allowing Iraq to sell more oil in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods for the economically ravaged Iraqi populace.