IRAQ: JOURNALISTS HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO THE DOURA OIL REFINERY TO SEE A GROUP OF WESTERNERS ACTING HAS HUMAN SHIELDS

Record ID: 344838

  • Title: IRAQ: JOURNALISTS HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO THE DOURA OIL REFINERY TO SEE A GROUP OF WESTERNERS ACTING HAS HUMAN SHIELDS
  • Date: 26th March 2003
  • Summary: (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 25, 2003) (REUTERS - NO ACCESS CNN) 1. SLV BUILDING AT DOURA WITH SIGN, JOURNALISTS WALKING PAST; SCU SIGN READING 'DOURA REFINERY'; SLV EXTERIOR VIEW OF REFINERY; SLV REFINERY WITH BILLOWING SMOKE (4 SHOTS) 0.19 2. SLV REFINERY WORKERS STANDING AROUND; SLV REFINERY; MV BANNERS ON WALLS, ONE READING "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" (4 SHOTS) 0.35 3. SLV PIPELINES AND REFINERY 0.45 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FAITH FIPPINGER, HUMAN SHIELD SAYING (In response to question 'how do you feel, are you terrified') "I think it goes beyond fear, I think it's just an utter overwhelming sadness that this is what the world has come to, that this is the way the world solves differences of opinion." 1.05 5. SLV BANNER ON OIL refinery SAYING NO BLOOD FOR OIL"; SLV REFINERY WITH BILLOWING SMOKE 1.13 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING IRAQI OIL MINISTER AMER RASHEED SAYING "We are providing oil products to our people not to have any problem." 1.21 7. SOUNDBITE) (English) AMER RASHEED SAYING "Only one well is burning and that is because of their bombardment on the well, it got one of the wells was burned at exploded. It is only one well, I repeat." 1.39 8. SLV REFINERY AND WORKERS (3 SHOTS) 1.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAB52N3PWH5P7JTTCB6AW3MF35Y
  • Story Text: Journalists have been taken to the Doura oil refinery,
    southeast of Baghdad, to see a group of westerners who had
    placed themselves there to act as human shields. Parts of the
    refinery were on fire, but Iraq's acting Oil Minister Amir
    Muhammed Rasheed said despite the burning wells, Iraq was able
    to cover its domestic energy requirements.

    Iraq said on Tuesday (March 25, 2003) it was still able to
    refine enough oil to fill its needs despite heavy bombardment
    by U.S.-led forces.

    Oil Minister Amir Muhammed Rasheed said Iraq was able to
    cover its domestic requirements, an indication Baghdad can
    still supply its population as well as its troops.

    "We are providing oil products to our people not to have
    any problem," Rasheed, told reporters touring the Doura
    refinery during a raid on nearby Baghdad.

    The minister, surrounded by refinery workers, appeared
    unconcerned by the raid and operations at the
    100,000-barrels-per-day facilities continued. A train loaded
    with diesel was leaving the refinery complex as the minister
    spoke.

    A target during the 1991 Gulf war, Doura has so far
    managed to escape damage from bombs dropping nearby. Smoke
    drifted over processing units from burning oil pits set alight
    near the facility to obscure the complex from the air.

    Florida teacher Faith Fippinger said she was one of
    several Western volunteers camped near Doura in a bid to
    prevent damage.

    "I think it goes beyond fear, I think it's just an utter
    overwhelming sadness that this is what the world has come to,
    that this is the way the world solves differences of opinion,"
    said Fippinger.

    The country's three domestic refineries -- Doura, Basra and
    Baiji -- are capable of churning out about 500,000 barrels per
    day (bpd) of oil products, industry sources said.

    Clad in green military fatigues, Rasheed, former chief of
    Iraq's military industrialisation commission, called on world
    producers not to raise supplies to cover output losses from
    Iraq, which had exported some 1.8 million bpd (barrels per
    day) before the war began last week.

    Oil prices have rebounded from four-month lows last week
    as traders focus on resistance to U.S. forces in Iraq and
    tribal violence in Nigeria that has cut crude output by 40
    percent.

    London's Brent crude was last trading at 69 cents higher
    at 26.88 U.S. dollars per barrel.

    Rasheed denied that Baghdad, which ranked as the world's
    seventh largest exporter, had tried to sabotage its own oil
    infrastructure and said U.S. bombs had destroyed only one oil
    well in the south so far.

    "Only one well is burning," he said "and that is because
    of their bombardment on the well, it got one of the wells was
    burned and exploded. It is only one well, I repeat."
    Rasheed dismissed as U.S. propaganda the Iraqi sabotage
    reports and said that journalists had mistaken oil pits
    similar to those burning near Doura for burning oil wells.

    Iraq has not adopted a scorched earth policy and intended
    to keep its infrastructure intact, including thousands of oil
    wells, he said.

    The United States and Britain say Iraq deliberately set
    fire to seven of 500 oil wells in the Rumaila oilfield in the
    south.

    Kuwaiti fire-fighters, accompanied by British troops, have
    managed to snuff out one wellhead blaze at the giant field,
    which can contribute more than one million bpd to Iraqi
    output.


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