Chinese Government agrees to provide 50,000 tons of fuel oil in exchange for North Korea shutting down its nuclear facilities in 2007

On February 13, 2007, the North Korean Government agreed to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for a package of food, fuel and other aid from the United States, China, South Korea, and Russia. Under the agreement, the first part of the aid — 50,000 tons of fuel oil, or an equivalent value of economic or humanitarian aid — was to be provided by the United States, China, South Korea, and Russia. Although the accord set a 60-day deadline for North Korea to accomplish its first steps toward disarmament, it did not define a time or a negotiation for the actual removal of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the fuel manufactured to produce them. In total, the donor delegations agreed to donate 1 million tons of fuel oil to North Korea: after delivering the first 50,000 tons during an initial 60-day period, the remainder of the aid was to be delivered when North Korea met later requirements to disclose and disable its nuclear arsenal. Later in 2007, North Korea received 50,000 tons of fuel from South Korea while it carried out the first phase of the agreement -- halting operations at its Yongbyon nuclear complex under monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Upon completion of the second phase of the deal, which called for Pyongyang to fully declare and disable its nuclear program, the Chinese Government agreed to provide 50,000 tons of fuel oil to North Korea in mid-August 2007. However, it is unclear if this full oil package was delivered by the Chinese Government. 50,000 tons of oil is equivalent to 365,000 barrels of oil. Therefore, to estimate the monetary value of this donation ($26,404,100), AidData takes the average price ($72.34) of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (NYMEX) Crude Oil in 2007 and multiplies it by 365,000 barrels of oil.

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