Saboteurs halt all exports of Iraqi oil
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
BAGHDAD Saboteurs blasted a key pipeline Wednesday for the second time in as many days, halting all oil exports from Iraq, and gunmen killed the top security official of the state-run Northern Oil company as insurgents stepped up attacks on the country's infrastructure.
.
The attack north of the major oil port of Fao crippled two already damaged pipelines, forcing a halt in all Iraqi oil exports southward through the Gulf, said Samir Jassim, a spokesman for the Southern Oil Company.
.
"Due to the damage inflicted on the two pipelines, the pumping of oil to the Basra oil terminal has completely stopped," Jassim said. "Exports have come to halt."
.
Exports were halted last month through the other avenue, the northern pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, Turkey, after a bombing on May 25, Turkish officials said.
.
Two explosions on the southern pipeline occurred in the same area as a blast on Tuesday. Jassim said that it could take up to a week to repair the damage.
.
Another pipeline carrying oil to a domestic refinery was attacked Tuesday night near Dibis, 45 kilometers, or about 28 miles, west of Kirkuk, according to Mustafa Awad, an official in the Northern Oil Company.
.
That pipeline does not carry crude oil for export, however. The fire was extinguished.
.
The security officer for the Northern Oil Company was killed in an ambush Wednesday in a crowded public market in Kirkuk. The victim, Ghazi Talabani, was a relative of the leader of one of Iraq's main Kurdish parties, Jalal Talabani. The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Wednesday that he would ask major oil producing countries that do not belong to the cartel - like Mexico, Oman, Angola and Russia - to increase output to compensate for the loss of Iraqi exports.
.
But the director of Russia's Federal Energy Agency rejected the call, saying Russia did not have enough spare capacity, the Interfax news agency reported.
.
Although Iraq's reserves are huge, the country is not a major factor in global energy markets and a short-term interruption would not have a major effect. That could change if insurgents continue to disrupt Iraq's exports.
.
Crude oil prices were little changed in London after the attacks. Brent crude oil for August settlement added 16 cents to $35.19 a barrel in morning trading Wednesday on London's International Petroleum Exchange. It reached a 13 1/2-year intraday high of $39.12 on June 1.
.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for July delivery rose 19 cents to $37.38 a barrel.
.
In other violence, nine people were killed, including four foreigners, when a vehicle was targeted in a blast Wednesday in the restive town of Ramadi, in western Iraq, an Iraqi doctor said.
.
"We have the bodies of five Iraqis and four foreigners," said Mohammed Jalal, a doctor in the neighboring town of Falluja, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad. "In addition, 10 injured Iraqis were admitted to our hospital."
.
American marines arrested six members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps on suspicion of involvement in the bombing along with an Iraqi civilian who ran out of a nearby building after the blast carrying hand grenades, a military spokeswoman said. The seven were taken to a coalition base for questioning.
.
As tensions remained high, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks with the Iraqis on details of the sovereignty transfer, Al Jazeera television reported.
.
Reviving petroleum exports is seen as the key to restoring Iraq's economy after decades of war, international sanctions and the rule of Saddam Hussein. However, repeated attacks have slowed the process of returning Iraq, with the world's largest petroleum reserves after Saudi Arabia, to the forefront of global energy markets.
.
Insurgents are targeting the infrastructure in an apparent effort to undermine confidence in the new government, which takes power June 30. On Monday, a car bomb killed 13 people in Baghdad, including three foreign engineers working to restore electricity.
.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, said another convoy of contractors was ambushed Tuesday in Baghdad. Two people were killed and three were wounded when shots were fired from a highway overpass, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
.
Elsewhere, the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr ordered members of his militia to leave the holy cities of Nafaj and Kufa unless they live there. The order fulfilled a key aspect of an agreement to end fighting between his militia forces and U.S. troops.
.
Sadr said last week that he would cooperate with the new interim Iraqi government if it worked to end the U.S. military presence. (AP, AFP, Bloomberg)
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< < Back to Start of Article BAGHDAD Saboteurs blasted a key pipeline Wednesday for the second time in as many days, halting all oil exports from Iraq, and gunmen killed the top security official of the state-run Northern Oil company as insurgents stepped up attacks on the country's infrastructure.
.
The attack north of the major oil port of Fao crippled two already damaged pipelines, forcing a halt in all Iraqi oil exports southward through the Gulf, said Samir Jassim, a spokesman for the Southern Oil Company.
.
"Due to the damage inflicted on the two pipelines, the pumping of oil to the Basra oil terminal has completely stopped," Jassim said. "Exports have come to halt."
.
Exports were halted last month through the other avenue, the northern pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, Turkey, after a bombing on May 25, Turkish officials said.
.
Two explosions on the southern pipeline occurred in the same area as a blast on Tuesday. Jassim said that it could take up to a week to repair the damage.
.
Another pipeline carrying oil to a domestic refinery was attacked Tuesday night near Dibis, 45 kilometers, or about 28 miles, west of Kirkuk, according to Mustafa Awad, an official in the Northern Oil Company.
.
That pipeline does not carry crude oil for export, however. The fire was extinguished.
.
The security officer for the Northern Oil Company was killed in an ambush Wednesday in a crowded public market in Kirkuk. The victim, Ghazi Talabani, was a relative of the leader of one of Iraq's main Kurdish parties, Jalal Talabani. The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Wednesday that he would ask major oil producing countries that do not belong to the cartel - like Mexico, Oman, Angola and Russia - to increase output to compensate for the loss of Iraqi exports.
.
But the director of Russia's Federal Energy Agency rejected the call, saying Russia did not have enough spare capacity, the Interfax news agency reported.
.
Although Iraq's reserves are huge, the country is not a major factor in global energy markets and a short-term interruption would not have a major effect. That could change if insurgents continue to disrupt Iraq's exports.
.
Crude oil prices were little changed in London after the attacks. Brent crude oil for August settlement added 16 cents to $35.19 a barrel in morning trading Wednesday on London's International Petroleum Exchange. It reached a 13 1/2-year intraday high of $39.12 on June 1.
.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for July delivery rose 19 cents to $37.38 a barrel.
.
In other violence, nine people were killed, including four foreigners, when a vehicle was targeted in a blast Wednesday in the restive town of Ramadi, in western Iraq, an Iraqi doctor said.
.
"We have the bodies of five Iraqis and four foreigners," said Mohammed Jalal, a doctor in the neighboring town of Falluja, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad. "In addition, 10 injured Iraqis were admitted to our hospital."
.
American marines arrested six members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps on suspicion of involvement in the bombing along with an Iraqi civilian who ran out of a nearby building after the blast carrying hand grenades, a military spokeswoman said. The seven were taken to a coalition base for questioning.
.
As tensions remained high, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks with the Iraqis on details of the sovereignty transfer, Al Jazeera television reported.
.
Reviving petroleum exports is seen as the key to restoring Iraq's economy after decades of war, international sanctions and the rule of Saddam Hussein. However, repeated attacks have slowed the process of returning Iraq, with the world's largest petroleum reserves after Saudi Arabia, to the forefront of global energy markets.
.
Insurgents are targeting the infrastructure in an apparent effort to undermine confidence in the new government, which takes power June 30. On Monday, a car bomb killed 13 people in Baghdad, including three foreign engineers working to restore electricity.
.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, said another convoy of contractors was ambushed Tuesday in Baghdad. Two people were killed and three were wounded when shots were fired from a highway overpass, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
.
Elsewhere, the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr ordered members of his militia to leave the holy cities of Nafaj and Kufa unless they live there. The order fulfilled a key aspect of an agreement to end fighting between his militia forces and U.S. troops.
.
Sadr said last week that he would cooperate with the new interim Iraqi government if it worked to end the U.S. military presence. (AP, AFP, Bloomberg) BAGHDAD Saboteurs blasted a key pipeline Wednesday for the second time in as many days, halting all oil exports from Iraq, and gunmen killed the top security official of the state-run Northern Oil company as insurgents stepped up attacks on the country's infrastructure.
.
The attack north of the major oil port of Fao crippled two already damaged pipelines, forcing a halt in all Iraqi oil exports southward through the Gulf, said Samir Jassim, a spokesman for the Southern Oil Company.
.
"Due to the damage inflicted on the two pipelines, the pumping of oil to the Basra oil terminal has completely stopped," Jassim said. "Exports have come to halt."
.
Exports were halted last month through the other avenue, the northern pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, Turkey, after a bombing on May 25, Turkish officials said.
.
Two explosions on the southern pipeline occurred in the same area as a blast on Tuesday. Jassim said that it could take up to a week to repair the damage.
.
Another pipeline carrying oil to a domestic refinery was attacked Tuesday night near Dibis, 45 kilometers, or about 28 miles, west of Kirkuk, according to Mustafa Awad, an official in the Northern Oil Company.
.
That pipeline does not carry crude oil for export, however. The fire was extinguished.
.
The security officer for the Northern Oil Company was killed in an ambush Wednesday in a crowded public market in Kirkuk. The victim, Ghazi Talabani, was a relative of the leader of one of Iraq's main Kurdish parties, Jalal Talabani. The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Wednesday that he would ask major oil producing countries that do not belong to the cartel - like Mexico, Oman, Angola and Russia - to increase output to compensate for the loss of Iraqi exports.
.
But the director of Russia's Federal Energy Agency rejected the call, saying Russia did not have enough spare capacity, the Interfax news agency reported.
.
Although Iraq's reserves are huge, the country is not a major factor in global energy markets and a short-term interruption would not have a major effect. That could change if insurgents continue to disrupt Iraq's exports.
.
Crude oil prices were little changed in London after the attacks. Brent crude oil for August settlement added 16 cents to $35.19 a barrel in morning trading Wednesday on London's International Petroleum Exchange. It reached a 13 1/2-year intraday high of $39.12 on June 1.
.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for July delivery rose 19 cents to $37.38 a barrel.
.
In other violence, nine people were killed, including four foreigners, when a vehicle was targeted in a blast Wednesday in the restive town of Ramadi, in western Iraq, an Iraqi doctor said.
.
"We have the bodies of five Iraqis and four foreigners," said Mohammed Jalal, a doctor in the neighboring town of Falluja, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad. "In addition, 10 injured Iraqis were admitted to our hospital."
.
American marines arrested six members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps on suspicion of involvement in the bombing along with an Iraqi civilian who ran out of a nearby building after the blast carrying hand grenades, a military spokeswoman said. The seven were taken to a coalition base for questioning.
.
As tensions remained high, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks with the Iraqis on details of the sovereignty transfer, Al Jazeera television reported.
.
Reviving petroleum exports is seen as the key to restoring Iraq's economy after decades of war, international sanctions and the rule of Saddam Hussein. However, repeated attacks have slowed the process of returning Iraq, with the world's largest petroleum reserves after Saudi Arabia, to the forefront of global energy markets.
.
Insurgents are targeting the infrastructure in an apparent effort to undermine confidence in the new government, which takes power June 30. On Monday, a car bomb killed 13 people in Baghdad, including three foreign engineers working to restore electricity.
.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, said another convoy of contractors was ambushed Tuesday in Baghdad. Two people were killed and three were wounded when shots were fired from a highway overpass, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
.
Elsewhere, the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr ordered members of his militia to leave the holy cities of Nafaj and Kufa unless they live there. The order fulfilled a key aspect of an agreement to end fighting between his militia forces and U.S. troops.
.
Sadr said last week that he would cooperate with the new interim Iraqi government if it worked to end the U.S. military presence. (AP, AFP, Bloomberg) BAGHDAD Saboteurs blasted a key pipeline Wednesday for the second time in as many days, halting all oil exports from Iraq, and gunmen killed the top security official of the state-run Northern Oil company as insurgents stepped up attacks on the country's infrastructure.
.
The attack north of the major oil port of Fao crippled two already damaged pipelines, forcing a halt in all Iraqi oil exports southward through the Gulf, said Samir Jassim, a spokesman for the Southern Oil Company.
.
"Due to the damage inflicted on the two pipelines, the pumping of oil to the Basra oil terminal has completely stopped," Jassim said. "Exports have come to halt."
.
Exports were halted last month through the other avenue, the northern pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, Turkey, after a bombing on May 25, Turkish officials said.
.
Two explosions on the southern pipeline occurred in the same area as a blast on Tuesday. Jassim said that it could take up to a week to repair the damage.
.
Another pipeline carrying oil to a domestic refinery was attacked Tuesday night near Dibis, 45 kilometers, or about 28 miles, west of Kirkuk, according to Mustafa Awad, an official in the Northern Oil Company.
.
That pipeline does not carry crude oil for export, however. The fire was extinguished.
.
The security officer for the Northern Oil Company was killed in an ambush Wednesday in a crowded public market in Kirkuk. The victim, Ghazi Talabani, was a relative of the leader of one of Iraq's main Kurdish parties, Jalal Talabani. The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Wednesday that he would ask major oil producing countries that do not belong to the cartel - like Mexico, Oman, Angola and Russia - to increase output to compensate for the loss of Iraqi exports.
.
But the director of Russia's Federal Energy Agency rejected the call, saying Russia did not have enough spare capacity, the Interfax news agency reported.
.
Although Iraq's reserves are huge, the country is not a major factor in global energy markets and a short-term interruption would not have a major effect. That could change if insurgents continue to disrupt Iraq's exports.
.
Crude oil prices were little changed in London after the attacks. Brent crude oil for August settlement added 16 cents to $35.19 a barrel in morning trading Wednesday on London's International Petroleum Exchange. It reached a 13 1/2-year intraday high of $39.12 on June 1.
.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for July delivery rose 19 cents to $37.38 a barrel.
.
In other violence, nine people were killed, including four foreigners, when a vehicle was targeted in a blast Wednesday in the restive town of Ramadi, in western Iraq, an Iraqi doctor said.
.
"We have the bodies of five Iraqis and four foreigners," said Mohammed Jalal, a doctor in the neighboring town of Falluja, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad. "In addition, 10 injured Iraqis were admitted to our hospital."
.
American marines arrested six members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps on suspicion of involvement in the bombing along with an Iraqi civilian who ran out of a nearby building after the blast carrying hand grenades, a military spokeswoman said. The seven were taken to a coalition base for questioning.
.
As tensions remained high, the U.S. deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks with the Iraqis on details of the sovereignty transfer, Al Jazeera television reported.
.
Reviving petroleum exports is seen as the key to restoring Iraq's economy after decades of war, international sanctions and the rule of Saddam Hussein. However, repeated attacks have slowed the process of returning Iraq, with the world's largest petroleum reserves after Saudi Arabia, to the forefront of global energy markets.
.
Insurgents are targeting the infrastructure in an apparent effort to undermine confidence in the new government, which takes power June 30. On Monday, a car bomb killed 13 people in Baghdad, including three foreign engineers working to restore electricity.
.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, said another convoy of contractors was ambushed Tuesday in Baghdad. Two people were killed and three were wounded when shots were fired from a highway overpass, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
.
Elsewhere, the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr ordered members of his militia to leave the holy cities of Nafaj and Kufa unless they live there. The order fulfilled a key aspect of an agreement to end fighting between his militia forces and U.S. troops.
.
Sadr said last week that he would cooperate with the new interim Iraqi government if it worked to end the U.S. military presence. (AP, AFP, Bloomberg)
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