Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Attack shuts down Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline
Oil
(UPI) - The international oil market will still have to rely on Basra to supply Iraq's oil exports as an apparent attack shuts down the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline again. The pipeline is key to increasing Iraq exports, providing the capacity to increased production. The Bush administration, during benchmark stump speeches last week, held up the newly reopened pipeline as a success story.
Iraq produced just less than 2 million barrels per day last month, according to estimates by the global energy information firm Platts. The country usually exports slightly more than three-fourths of what it produces. Most of that is coming from export terminals in Basra, in south Iraq, since attacks on the pipeline feeding oil to a terminal in Ceyhan, Turkey, has rendered it virtually useless.
Media reports are quoting sources on the ground that a pre-dawn bomb ripped open the pipeline between Kirkuk and Baiji, sending oil into the Tigris River, forcing water pumps in Tikrit and Baiji to shut down and threatening the supply into Baghdad. Last month Iraq officials gave a hushed admission that the line had been repaired and oil was flowing to Turkey, most likely in test quantities, said Rochdi Younsi, Middle East analyst for the business risk firm Eurasia Group.
"They did say that they were completing a series of tests that appear to be promising, tests meaning that they were pumping a certain volume through the pipeline," Younsi said. "But frankly no one expected the Iraqi government to make an announcement because doing that usually leads to an attack." Iraq recently announced an Oct. 5 tender for shipments of oil from Ceyhan, a move that comes after enough oil had been shipped to storage tanks there.
"Yesterday a report came out saying basically that exports of oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline had been abruptly interrupted for the past six days, which basically implies that it was working before that," Younsi said. "And then this morning we heard about the explosions." Younsi said it is an added dynamic in the power struggle in Iraq. Kurds in the relatively safe and semi-autonomous northern region will be "growing impatient with the deterioration of security in that area," which the federal government controls.
Iraq produced just less than 2 million barrels per day last month, according to estimates by the global energy information firm Platts. The country usually exports slightly more than three-fourths of what it produces. Most of that is coming from export terminals in Basra, in south Iraq, since attacks on the pipeline feeding oil to a terminal in Ceyhan, Turkey, has rendered it virtually useless.
Media reports are quoting sources on the ground that a pre-dawn bomb ripped open the pipeline between Kirkuk and Baiji, sending oil into the Tigris River, forcing water pumps in Tikrit and Baiji to shut down and threatening the supply into Baghdad. Last month Iraq officials gave a hushed admission that the line had been repaired and oil was flowing to Turkey, most likely in test quantities, said Rochdi Younsi, Middle East analyst for the business risk firm Eurasia Group.
"They did say that they were completing a series of tests that appear to be promising, tests meaning that they were pumping a certain volume through the pipeline," Younsi said. "But frankly no one expected the Iraqi government to make an announcement because doing that usually leads to an attack." Iraq recently announced an Oct. 5 tender for shipments of oil from Ceyhan, a move that comes after enough oil had been shipped to storage tanks there.
"Yesterday a report came out saying basically that exports of oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline had been abruptly interrupted for the past six days, which basically implies that it was working before that," Younsi said. "And then this morning we heard about the explosions." Younsi said it is an added dynamic in the power struggle in Iraq. Kurds in the relatively safe and semi-autonomous northern region will be "growing impatient with the deterioration of security in that area," which the federal government controls.
Labels: attack, Basra, Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, oil
Monday, April 30, 2007
Aid workers killed
Humanitarian, Security
(Al Jazeera) - Four humanitarian workers from the Iraqi Red Crescent have been killed and three others wounded after their minibus was ambushed in the district of Zafaraniya in Baghdad. Saturday's deaths are the latest in a series of attacks on the Iraqi Red Crescent, one of the few aid agencies still working in the country. In December, dozens of Red Crescent employees were abducted from the group's office in the Iraqi capital. Many of the hostages were later released, but some are still missing.
Labels: attack, Iraqi Red Crescent Society, Zafaraniya
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Iraqi Islamic Party criticises government for lack of security
Security, Politics
(VOI) - The Iraqi Islamic Party announced on Tuesday that two gunmen belonging to the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq" had bombed two of its headquarters in the neighborhoods of al-Ghazaliya and al-Amiriya, west of Baghdad, injuring and killing many people. "The explosions took place a few hours after a statement made by the so-called 'Abu Omar al-Baghdadi,' the leader of the self-styled 'Islamic State of Iraq,' in which he accused the Iraqi Islamic Party of inciting and stirring sedition," the party said on Tuesday in a statement that the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) obtained a copy of on Wednesday.
"While the Iraqi Islamic Party condemns these acts, which only serve the interests of the foreign project, it categorically denies the accusations made by the so-called 'Abu Omar al-Baghdadi,' through which he tried to disguise his hatred for all Iraqis, who have seen his true colors… Inciting and stirring sedition has never been the policy of the party," the statement added.
The party held the Iraqi government responsible for the gross and clear negligence with regards to Baghdad's security file. It also wondered about the role of security forces, following more than two months of the enforcement of the rule of law in Baghdad. The Iraqi Islamic Party, led by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, is part of the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), represented by 44 members in the Iraqi parliament.
Labels: attack, Iraqi Islamic Party, Islamic State of Iraq, politics, security
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Oil minister urges Kirkuk local council to protect oil facilities as pipeline attacked
Oil, Security
(VOI) – Iraqi Minister of Oil Dr. Hussein al-Shahrestani urged the Kirkuk local council to protect the ministry's oil facilities and pipelines from acts of sabotage. "The Kirkuk oil installations' production capacity is enough to meet the needs of the northern refineries in Kirkuk and Baiji," Shahrestani told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The minister explained that stopping exports from the Turkish Ceyhan port outlet due to ceaseless vandalism of oil pipelines has caused production levels to decrease and consequently cost Iraq millions of dollars in daily losses.
Earlier on Friday morning, a security source in the Iraqi police said unidentified men bombed an Iraqi oil pipeline in southern Kirkuk, setting the oil installation ablaze. The pipeline, which carries oil from Kirkuk to the Baiji refineries and is near the main road linking Kirkuk to the district of al-Huweija, was blown up with an explosive charge, causing a thick blaze firefighters are trying to control," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The oil industry in the northern fields are coming under constant attacks, which upsets the regularity of Iraqi oil exports. The northern oil fields are considered Iraq's only outlet to sell crude oil exports via the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Oil-rich fields in Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad, have stopped regular exporting as a result of attacks that caused harms estimated at billions of dollars.
Labels: attack, Baiji refineries, Hussain al-Shahrastani, Kirkuk, oil pipeline
