Attacks halt Iraq oil supplies
Attacks on oil pipelines have brought all oil exports from southern Iraq to a complete halt, a senior Iraqi oil official said today.
Oil from the country’s key southern pipelines was halted late last night, the official from South Oil Co said.
He said exports were not likely to resume for at least a week.
The country’s southern pipelines export 90% of Iraq’s oil. Exports from the south normally average about 1.85 million barrels a day.
Saboteurs blew up a cluster of pipelines in southern Iraq yesterday in the latest attack targeting the country’s crucial oil industry.
The pipeline, which connects the Rumeila oilfields with export storage tanks in the Faw peninsula, was ablaze after the attack and emergency workers were struggling to put the fire out.
Insurgents have launched repeated attacks on Iraq’s oil infrastructure in a bid to undermine the interim government and reconstruction efforts.
On Saturday, insurgents blew up another pipeline in the West Qurna oilfields, about 90 miles north of Basra.
