Zarqawi death won’t reduce Iraq oil attacks: Bodman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is not expecting a
decrease in the number of attacks on Iraq’s oil infrastructure
after the death of Al Qaeda’s Iraq group leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Monday.

“We are not counting on a change,” Bodman told reporters,
but he added: “Time will only tell.”

Iraq’s oil sector, which the Bush administration hoped
would be a big revenue raiser to help rebuild Iraq, has been
subject to repeat attacks on its pipelines and oil export
facilities.

Iraq’s crude oil production in May was an estimated 1.9
million barrels a day, down sharply from almost 2.6 million
barrels a day in January 2003 just before the start of the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, according to the U.S. Energy
Department.