Iraq Pipelines Hit, Export Flows Hold

[NewHampshireDem]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20040904/bs_nm/energy_iraq_dc

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saboteurs kept up relentless attacks on Iraq's oil production system on Saturday, hitting pipelines in the north and south that disrupted internal supply, oil officials said.


Although the attacks did not further cut export flows, which have reverted solely to southern terminals after the northern pipeline was sabotaged two days ago, they exposed more gaps in security and further undermined the U.S.-backed government's efforts to boost the crucial oil industry.


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, South Oil Company officials said.


Flames could be seen rising from pipelines around 6 miles south of the Nahr Umr oil field near the city of Basra. The field produces around 5,000 barrels per day.


In the north, saboteurs attacked a refined oil products pipeline near a region where the main crude export pipeline was blown up on Thursday, said Ahmad al-Ubaidi, a senior North Oil Company security official.


A bomb exploded underneath the products pipeline, which runs from the oil center of Kirkuk to the Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji.
<more>