Iraq Oil Pipelines Hit as Sabotage Spreads South

[DoYouEverWonder]

Reuters

Mon February 23, 2004

MAKHUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's northern oil export pipeline is still coming under attack, officials said Monday, as sabotage hit infrastructure further south, raising fresh fears about the vulnerability of the country's oil industry.

Almost a year after the Iraq war, the country's U.S.-led authority does not feel confident enough yet to try to restart the pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfields.

<snip>

Starting the pipeline is crucial for raising Iraqi oil export capacity because the southern Basra offshore terminal is running at full capacity.

Iraq is reinjecting as much as 400,000 barrels a day of Kirkuk crude back into reservoirs because it cannot export the oil. Exports are restricted to the south and now are running near 1.6 million bpd.

Baghdad had hoped to restart the Kirkuk line, pumping about 800,000 bpd before the U.S. invasion, by the end of March.




I wonder how much longer the oil barons will put up with W, considering he's made such a mess of things they can't even get their oil out to market? That is the driving force of the oil companies. The oil must flow, all the time. That is all they care about.

Now they are putting 400,000 barrels a day into reservoirs in Kirkuk. I wonder what will happen when all of these reserves make it to market. Will that suddenly bring down the price of gas, just in time for the election?

[loudnclear]

1. Moore said it right. "Stupid white men."

It never had more meaning than now.

[saigon68]

2. "The oil must flow, all the time. That is all they care about"

Never said better.

The corporation isn't about morality--its about profit.