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Posted on 08/26/2004 4:05:06 AM PDT by BlackVeil
BASRA, Iraq (AFP) - Eight pipelines feeding two southern oilfields were sabotaged in an overnight explosion, affecting exports and dealing a blow to the country's vital but beleagured oil industry, officials said.
Threats against oil infrastructure amid fighting between US troops and Shiite Muslim fighters in the holy city of Najaf, had seen world oil prices reach record highs before southern Iraqi exports resumed to normal levels at the weekend.
"At 9:00 pm (1700 GMT), a device exploded under a bridge, which collapsed. Eight parallel pipelines, feeding the Zubeir 1 and Zubeir 2 oilfields were damaged," said a source at the South Oil Company on condition of anonymity.
Part of a cluster of 20 pipelines at Al-Barjassiya, only eight were damaged in the explosion, said an official at the oil ministry in Baghdad.
"The fire still had not been put out Thursday morning. This sabotage will affect exports," he said, refusing to elaborate.
The oilfields in question lie 20 kilometres (13 miles) southwest of Iraq (news - web sites)'s main southern city of Basra, said the South Oil Company.
In the wake of the news in major producer Iraq, world oil prices rebounded slightly in London and New York, traders said.
The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in October climbed 22 cents to 40.90 dollars per barrel in opening deals, having shed 1.64 dollars the day before.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, gained 31 cents to 44.78 dollars per barrel in pre-opening electronic trading, having plunged 1.74 dollars Wednesday.
Southern oil exports had returned to their normal level of 85,000 barrels an hour or about 1.9 million barrels a day, at the weekend.
For the previous 13 days, exports had sunk to between 36,000 and 42,000 barrels a day due to threats by Shiite militia loyal to Moqtada Sadr to blow up oil pipelines feeding the two southern terminals.
In normal times, Iraq exports around 1.8 million barrels a day through its southern terminals.
The disruption to Iraqi exports helped world prices to record highs of approaching 50 dollars a barrel in New York last week.
On August 14, the state-owned Northern Oil Company said oil pumping to the Turkish port of Ceyhan had resumed at levels not seen for the past year.
The company said oil was being pumped both through the old pipeline that passes refineries in Beiji to the west and a new parallel pipeline that goes through the town of Al-Fatha, 120 kilometers (70 miles) west of Kirkuk.
Security is a primary concern along the country's oil infrastructure, with authorities reluctant to gamble with disruptions to flow, which costs the government millions of dollars of lost revenue every day.
more happy Muslims at work doing the work of Allah.
Tell them they keep this shit up and there's going to be mortorium on all religious pilgrimages and assemblies centered around some religious figure. Sistani, Al Sadr, all part of the problems because they command posses of religious thugs operating outside the bounds of secular law enforcement.
Thu Aug 26, 5:26 AM ET
By ABBAS FAYADH, Associated Press Writer
(5 Paragraphs down in a story that claimed 20 coordinated attacks)
Squadron leader Spike Wilson, a spokesman for British troops helping maintain security in the area, said he was only aware of one pipeline breach 12 miles west of Zubayr.
He said it was not clear if that pipeline had been attacked, however.
"It's a minor pipeline, it hasn't impeded the export of oil at all," Wilson said. "Because the infrastructure of the pipelines are so old, they frequently just give way."
The shiite chapter of Earth First! stikes again.
There's always an easy answer when training dogs.
Why don`t they just bury the oil lines? We do that here with oil, natural gas, and diesel/gasoline lines.
Thank you for that update - most informative. The attacks go from 8 to 20 - but then down to 1 or none confirmed. That does put the whole story in a different light.
Difficult to get accurate news from a war zone.
I do think that there is a genuine problem with sabotage of the oil facilities in the south, although I don't know that this article I posted is accurate. The reason I think there is a problem, is the drop in oil exports. But to see exactly how things are going, we must all watch for news and details.
I guess that is investor code for down $0.37
How long is this insanity going to continue in Iraq? If we can't get control of the oil industry and protect it from terrorists, how do we expect the country to get back on it's feet?
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