Home > Saboteurs Attack About 20 Iraq Pipelines
By ABBAS FAYADH
BASRA, Iraq - Saboteurs have attacked about 20 oil pipelines in southern Iraq, reducing exports from the key oil producing region by at least one third, a top oil official said Thursday.
The cluster of pipelines was attacked late Wednesday in Berjasiya, 20 miles southwest of the southern city of Basra, an official with the state-run South Oil Co. said on condition of anonymity. The pipelines, which connect the Rumeila oilfields to Berjasiya, were still ablaze Thursday.
Associated Press Television News footage showed huge plumes of black smoke and flames leaping from the Zubayr 1 pumping station, south of Basra.
Oil exports out of southern Iraq average about 1.85 million barrels a day. The oil official said Wednesday’s sabotage cut exports to 1.2 million barrels.
Squadron leader Spike Wilson, a spokesman for British troops helping maintain security in the area, said he was only aware of one pipeline breach 12 miles west of Zubayr.
He said it was not clear if that pipeline had been attacked, however.
"It’s a minor pipeline, it hasn’t impeded the export of oil at all," Wilson said. "Because the infrastructure of the pipelines are so old, they frequently just give way."
Insurgents have repeatedly sabotaged Iraq’s crucial oil industry, its main source of income, in an effort to hamper reconstruction efforts here. The threats to the oil infrastructure have increased in recent weeks amid a violent uprising by Shiite militants in southern Iraq, where much of the oil industry is located. (AP)