Attacks on Iraq's oil sector, mostly on pipelines, affects 400,000 barrels per day and billions of dollars annually, an Oil Ministry spokesman said.
Assem Jihad said attacks on the country's oil infrastructure averaged one every other day, totaling 159 major blows in 2006, Azzaman reports.
These attacks have forced the country's refineries to operate at nearly 50 percent of capacity, Jihad said. Iraq depends on oil sales for 96 percent of its federal budget. It has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves, the third-most in the world.
But oil production averaged 2 million bpd last year and dropped to around an average 1.7 million bpd last month due to attacks, bad weather and stoppage for repairs. Iraq produced 2.6 million bpd before the 2003 war.
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