Pipeline blast cuts Iraq's southern oil exports

[laststeamtrain]

Source: Reuters

Pipeline blast cuts Iraq's southern oil exports
27 Mar 2008 10:46:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds background)

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, March 27 (Reuters) - Saboteurs blew up one of Iraq's two main oil export pipelines in southern Iraq on Thursday, cutting about half a million barrels a day of oil exports, a Southern Oil Company official told Reuters.

The attack came on the third day of an Iraqi military operation against fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al- Sadr in the oil port of Basra. The pipeline was attacked 7 km south of Basra. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

U.S. crude <CLc1> was trading up more than $1 at close to $107 a barrel after news of the attack.

"This morning saboteurs blew up the pipeline transporting crude from Zubair 1 by placing bombs beneath it. The pipeline was severely damaged," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL733478.htm

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The bomb exploded underneath the Zubair-1 pipeline that sends crude oil from the Basra Zubair oil field to tanks for Iraq's two exporting terminals on the Gulf: al-Umaiya and Basra, according to an official in Basra.

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It was the second pipeline bombing this week. On Tuesday night, a bomb damaged a domestic oil pipeline that links the Noor oil field in the southern Maysan province to the refinery in Basra, officials said. It was expected to take several days to repair the damage.

Iraq's oil exports have recently witnessed upbeat levels since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. An average of 1.54 million barrels were sent each day through Basra in February, according to the Oil Ministry.

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Oil output in southeastern Iraq is around 2 million barrels per day, according to oil ministry figures, accounting about 80 percent of Iraq's total output.

The huge portion of oil output comes from Basra Rumaila South and North oil fields that produce around 1.3 million barrels per day.

The city also is home to one of Iraq's three largest oil refineries, the Shuaiba refinery which has a capacity of 160,000 barrels a day but has been functioning below capacity at about 100,000 barrels per day.

<more>

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/27/africa/ME-FIN-Iraq-Pipeline-Explosion.php

[laststeamtrain]

1. Reuters update: Iraq oil pipeline fire extinguished - official

Iraq oil pipeline fire extinguished - official
27 Mar 2008 10:54:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - A fire on one of Iraq's two main oil export pipelines in southern Iraq was extinguished earlier on Thursday and the damage was being assessed, an Iraqi oil official said.

"The fire was put out before noon (local time) today," he told Reuters. "They're trying to assess the damage."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27781383.htm

[Chipper Chat]

2. Betcha McCain blames it on Iran.

Fox News knockin' on his door for a quote as we speak......

[acmavm]

3. Where are all these barrels of oil going? What country is getting

all these exports. And what is the cost of this oil? And where are the oil revenues going?

Inquiring minds NEED to know.

[laststeamtrain]

4. Bloomberg: Oil Rises to One-Week High After Iraqi Pipeline Catches Fire

Oil Rises to One-Week High After Iraqi Pipeline Catches Fire

By Grant Smith

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to its highest in more than a week after a pipeline explosion in southern Iraq, cutting supply to the country's main export terminal.

The pipeline was on fire and the disruption will likely cut shipments to the Basra terminal, an Iraqi official said. Iraq, holder of the world's third-largest crude reserves, ships most of the 2.32 million barrels it pumps each day from Basra.

``A setback like this and the militia activity in the last two days makes hopes for long-term peace and supply look fragile,'' said Robert Laughlin, a senior broker at MF Global Ltd. in London. ``We'd only just got used to Iraq supply becoming more reliable.''

Crude oil for May delivery rose as much as $1.80, or 1.7 percent, to $107.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $106.87 at 11:28 a.m. London time. Today's peak is the highest since March 14.

<more>

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a8frahDTp.Ww

[libodem]

5. Hitting America in the oil pocket

is the only way she will feel the sting of the bullet. Otherwise our young sons and daughters can be maimed and killed in a civil war and no one at the top gives it a second thought. This will make someone care! On second thought it raises the $ for a barrel of oil. Shell probably did it themselves. :sarcasm: <- For anyone whom might not catch my deeply disturbed sense of cynicism and despair.

[bemildred]

6. Crude oil surges after Basra pipeline bombing

The price of crude oil surged this morning after saboteurs bombed one of Iraq's main oil pipelines in what was feared to be a backlash attack by powerful Shia Muslim militias.

The attack is being seen as an act of retaliation for the Government's campaign to crack down on the Shia private armies, many of them Iranian-backed, which have exerted a powerful and violent influence over the south and centre of Iraq.

The explosion on the Zubair 1 pipeline, four miles south of Basra, happened on the third day of an operation by the Iraqi Army to defeat and round up gunmen in the oil port of Basra.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3631718.ece

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Right after the cheney visit.

...Things that make you go "Hmmmmmmmmmm".

[Altean Wanderer]

8. 'Dick Cheney, International Man of Misery' - Jon Stewart the other night