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Attacks on Iraq's oil industry

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

LONDON - Reuters

A mortar attack set ablaze oil storage tanks in northern Iraq on
Monday,
police said.

A source at the state North Oil Company said output from the region
could
be reduced for some time.

Before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the pipeline from the northern
Kirkuk
oilfields to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan was shipping some
700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to world markets. Now, the pipeline
operates
intermittently at best because of constant sabotage attacks.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraq has relied almost
exclusively on
its southern Basra oil terminal in the Gulf for exports. Oil production
has
been stuck at 2 million bpd with exports of 1.5 million bpd. That
compares
to a pre-war output of just under 3 million bpd and exports of around 2
million.

Past strikes on Iraq's oil industry and its employees:

Nov. 27, 2006 -- A mortar attack set ablaze oil storage tanks in
northern
Iraq, police said. A source at the North Oil Company said output from
the
region could be reduced for some time.

July 2006 -- A sabotage attack along Iraq's northern oil export route
to
Turkey fractured both pipelines and halted flows, an Oil Ministry
official
said.

July 16, 2006 -- The head of Iraq's North Oil Company, Adel Qazaz,
was
kidnapped in Baghdad, an Oil Ministry official said

June 10, 2006 -- Iraq resumes intermittent pumping along the
Iraq-Turkey
pipeline.

June 8, 2006 -- Gunmen kidnap a senior oil ministry official on his
way
home from work. Kidnappers have not contacted the ministry or family of
Muthana al-Badri, Director General of Iraq's State Company for Oil
Projects
(SCOP).

June 7, 2006 -- Four Iraqi oil employees were kidnapped as they
return
from checking on an oilfield near the northern oil hub of Kirkuk. No
group
claims responsibility.

March 2006 -- A blast hit Iraq's Southern Oil Company headquarters in
Basra, damaging one of its buildings, but operations were not affected,
a
source in the company said.

Feb 2006 -- A bomb tore open an oil products and fuel pipeline near
the
northern Iraqi refinery town of Baiji, disrupting supplies.

Jan 2006 -- Insurgents blow up at least two pipelines feeding the
main oil
pumping station in Kirkuk, halting exports from the north that had only
just
resumed.

Dec 2005-Jan 2006 -- Shipments of Basra Light from the Gulf drop to
their
lowest level since 2003 at 1.1 million bpd due to bad weather and
logistical
problems.

Oct 2005 -- Four blasts hit a main gathering centre for at least four
fields that feed the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, halting northern oil
exports.

Oct 2004 -- Jordanian militant Zarqawi threatens to attack foreign
trucks
carrying imports of oil products into Iraq.

Sep 2004 -- The obscure "Followers of Zarqawi Group" claims
responsibility
for an attack on Iraqi oil pipelines near Kirkuk that halt crude
exports to
Turkey.

June 2004 -- Saboteurs blow a hole in one of Iraq's southern oil
export
pipelines and disrupt shipments to world markets.

Apr 2004 -- Statement from Zarqawi claims responsibility for a foiled
suicide boat attack on Iraq's vital Basra oil terminal.

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