Iraq Oil Report

Pipelines hit
Workers can’t leave/get to work
A peek at the Basra oil infrastructure
Iraqi military “stalled,” Maliki vows fight “to the end”
Security of late threatened
Bush: Nationalized oil harming Iraq, “legacy” of Saddam
Bush: Losing the Iraq war “endanger” oil in Iraq
U.S. gives $2.5M to train engineers
The Iraq Press Roundup

Oil flow will be affected by the Iraqi army’s crackdown in the oil capital Basra after all, following a pipeline bombing and dangerous conditions for workers.

A pipeline sending crude from key oil fields in Iraq’s south to export terminals was bombed Thursday, and the price of oil jumped by $1 to $105 per barrel, Ben Lando reports for United Press International.

On Tuesday, when the Iraq military action in Basra began, a pipeline feeding a refinery there was also bombed. The Oil Ministry had and still insists oil flow is OK. …

The extent of damage on either of the lines is not known, but United Press International understands exports could be cut from 1.6 million barrels per day to between 800,000 and 1.1 million bpd, and that the Basra Oil Terminal’s pumping rates have been reduced.

Workers in Iraq’s South Oil Co., typically working eight-hour shifts, have been unable to leave or get to work, said Shawna Bader-Blau, Middle East senior program officer for the Solidarity Center, an AFL-CIO affiliate that coordinates directly with Iraq’s workers. …

If the fighting continues, she added, “that’s a big problem in the South Oil Co. because people can’t get to work. How are they going to be able to produce and export oil?”

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Oil Ministry is negotiating oil contracts with the world’s largest oil companies for five fields, some in the southern Iraq firestorm now. …

“Many of the underlying problems in Basra politics will just remain there,” said Reidar Visser, author of “Basra: The Failed Gulf State,” Middle East expert at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and editor of the Web site Historiae.org. “You still have the competition of the governorship, still have the competition of federalism, and still have the competition for resources in the area.”

Read the entire story HERE.

Reuters has details on the Basra area oil infrastructure.

The Iraqi military effort in Basra has “stalled,” James Glanz reports for The New York Times.

Iraq’s U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed on Thursday security forces would battle Shi’ite militia in Basra “to the end” despite thousands of protesters marching to demand his resignation, Reuters reports in a separate story.

The Real News Network, a new web startup, has this insight into intra-Shiite fighting:

This week’s spike in violence in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Basra raises the prospect that the factors that suppressed Iraq’s bloodshed in recent months could be evaporating simultaneously, Yochi J. Dreazen and Gina Chon report for The Wall Street Journal.

President Bush said Iraq’s nationalized oil sector is a Saddam Hussein “legacy” that is harming Iraq’s economy, and losing the war would “endanger” Iraq’s oil, Ben Lando reports for UPI. “Iraq has great economic potential — they’ve got a young, energetic population, it’s got a lot of natural resources,” Bush said Thursday in a war on terrorism speech in Dayton, Ohio.

A U.S. reconstruction team working in Iraq’s Wasit province gave $2.5M to an engineering college to support Iraq’s need for qualified workers to rebuild the country, UPI reports.

Read Iraq’s editorial pages here: The Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.

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