[R-G] Iraq out $165M a day in pipeline attacks

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Iraq out $165M a day in pipeline attacks
Posted : Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:08:01GMT
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/49744.html
Energy Environment News | Home

KIRKUK, Iraq, April 9 Iraq's Oil Ministry says northern pipeline attacks 
cost $165 million a day in potential revenue and wants the Kirkuk 
council to do more to prevent it.

The Voices of Iraq news agency reports the ministry said the pipeline 
from Kirkuk, in Iraq's north, to a port in Ceyhan, Turkey, is "now 
defunct" because of attacks. The pipeline, the sole source for shipping 
oil from Iraq's northern fields to Turkish markets and beyond, is a 
constant target of Sunni insurgents. Most of Iraq's 2 million barrels 
per day of production comes from oil fields in the south, and virtually 
all of its 1.6 million bpd exports are from Basra, on the Persian Gulf.

The northern pipeline has a capacity of 300,000 bpd.

Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister, said production from Kirkuk 
can meet refining capacity in the north, though an electricity shortage 
often keeps the refineries offline and the region complains of a fuel 
shortage. The entire country lacks sufficient transportation, heating 
and cooking fuels.

Shahristani said the pipeline attacks are costing Iraq "millions of 
dollars in daily losses." He asked the Kirkuk local council do more to 
protect the oil infrastructure from attacks.

Copyright 2007 by UPI


-- 
Macdonald Stainsby
http://independentmedia.ca/survivingcanada
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In the contradiction lies the hope
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