Blast hits oil well in Iraq’s Kirkuk field

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Insurgents sabotaged an exporting oil
well in Iraq on Friday, stepping up pressure on the U.S.-backed
government struggling to steer Iraq through a political crisis
over a draft constitution.

In an all too familiar scene in a country with the world’s
third largest oil reserves, flames threatened to halt output
from the well, which pumps 7,000 to 10,000 barrels per day
(bpd) and feeds a pipeline to Turkey.

An Iraqi oil official said firefighters were battling the
blaze in the northern Kirkuk oilfields, which have been spared
the relentless attacks on domestic and export oil pipelines in
the region.

Hours after the parliament speaker announced politicians
needed more time to finalize the constitution after relentless
wrangling, insurgents reminded them of economic turmoil with
the well blast.

Whether or not guerrillas intended it that way, the attack
was a potent reminder that multi-ethnic Kirkuk is one of the
most emotionally-charged issues in Iraqi politics.

The Kurds, who are demanding more autonomy for their de
facto state in the north in the constitution, say Kirkuk should
rightfully be part of their region while Arab Sunnis and
Turkmen lay claim to the oil center too.

Frequent sabotage of oil pipelines has deprived state
coffers of badly needed oil revenue and the attack on the
Kirkuk oilfields raises new questions about repeated government
vows to protect the country’s strategic natural resource.

“This is a very big problem. The well head was damaged and
the fire is spreading. They are trying to stop it,” the oil
official told Reuters.

Guerrilla sabotage has deprived Iraq of billions of dollars
in crude oil sales that the U.S. and Iraqi officials had hoped
would fund rebuilding after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Iraq has been sending intermittent crude supplies to a
storage facility at the border and then on to Turkey’s Ceyhan
terminal for export.

But those efforts are still vulnerable to sabotage which
can put the whole process on hold again for repairs.

The official said three million barrels had recently been
shipped to Ceyhan. That oil will be sold to British, French and
Spanish companies — the winners in a rare oil sale tender.

The relentless guerrilla campaign, which also includes
suicide bombings and the killing of officials and civilians,
has forced Iraq to rely almost entirely on its southern
oilfields for exports.

But they too are vulnerable. Saboteurs targeted a power
station outside Baghdad on Monday, leaving the southern port
city of Basra and the capital in the dark for 12 hours and
halting export flows from the country’s Gulf terminal.

Iraq is exporting about 1.5 million bpd, below its pre-war
capacity of 2.2 million bpd.