Attackers sabotage Iraqi oil industry

by Australian Broadcasting

Tue, Jun 15, 2004 2:11PM

Insurgents have stepped up pressure on Iraq's new interim government with another blow to the vital oil industry just two weeks before a formal end to the US occupation.

Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban has confirmed saboteurs blasted an oil pipeline feeding storage tanks at Basra in the country's south, cutting exports by a third.

"There were two sabotage cases," he told Reuters.

The Basra attack shut down the country's two main oil terminals, virtually halting Iraq's petroleum exports.

The second attack saw saboteurs bomb an oil pipeline serving Iraq's domestic needs near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Northern Oil Co director general Adel Kazzaz said: "An oil pipeline connecting the fields in Kirkuk and a processing station in Bajwan, 20 kilometres north of the city, was sabotaged and a fire broke out."

He says the explosion could affect supplies to refineries.

Iraqi leaders are fighting a wave of assassinations, bombings and sabotage by guerrillas who are trying to prove the new interim government cannot rule effectively after the June 30 handover of power.

Shippers in the region say crude oil export rates have fallen below 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from about 1.7 million, another setback to efforts to boost export revenues vital for Iraq's post-war reconstruction.

Some later said exports from Basra were halted and an Iraqi industry official said repairs could take seven to 10 days.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200406/s1132637.htm

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