Iraqi officials, though, have indicated export flows continue with the country’s southern terminals pumping out all of Iraq’s export crude.
As reported earlier by EnergyReview.net, a bomb exploded underneath a products pipeline which runs from Kirkuk to the Baiji refinery. Current reports indicate the fires, which resulted from the explosion, have yet to be put out.
In a statement Iraq’s South Oil Co said, “Flows from southern fields to the two Gulf offshore terminals were steady at two million barrels per day, although pipelines linking the Nahr Umr field to the Basra refinery and storage tanks were hit.” According to the media reports the pipelines from the 5,000 bpd field are still ablaze.
In related news, the Iraqi Oil Ministry has deployed a 14,000 member security force to protect the country’s oil infrastructure, plans to double its fleet of reconnaissance aircraft and paying tribal leaders to guard the country’s pipelines.
According to Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad, “When these pipelines were laid decades ago, no one then thought that saboteurs will damage them but [we] can do little with the vast tracts of uninhabited desert where many lines are attacked. We cannot put a security man every 10 km.”
“[Hence], the Oil Ministry is currently paying US$2 million a month to tribal leaders to protect pipelines in their areas. [Also], Australian experts are now training Iraqis on how to use eight SB7L-360 Seeker Reconnaissance aircraft [and] the number of aircraft [will] double soon,” added the spokesman.
