IRAQ: U.S. SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN PATROLLING IRAQ'S MAIN CRUDE OIL EXPORT PIPELINE TO DETER SABOTEURS

Record ID: 344904

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S. SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN PATROLLING IRAQ'S MAIN CRUDE OIL EXPORT PIPELINE TO DETER SABOTEURS
  • Date: 23rd September 2003
  • Summary: (U4) LOCATION 70 KILOMETRES SOUTH OF MOSUL, NORTHERN IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 23, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER LANDING 0.06 2. SV U.S. SOLDIERS OF THE 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION OF THE U.S. ARMY RUNNING TO BOARD HELICOPTER (2 SHOTS) 0.18 3. AERIAL VIEW OF GROUND FROM HELICOPTER 0.23 4. SV U.S. TROOPS IN HELICOPTER 0.31 5. AERIAL VIEW OF OIL INSTALLATIONS AS SEEN FROM HELICOPTER (2 SHOTS) 0.49 6. SV/SLV U.S. TROOPS PATROLLING ON THE GROUND (3 SHOTS) 1.06 7. LV TANKS ON PATROL 1.12 8. SLV U.S. TROOPS PATROLLING ON GROUND 1.16 9. MCU (English) CAPTAIN BRIAN DELEON, COMMANDER OF THE ARTILLERY BATTERY OF THE FIRST BRIGADE OF THE 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: "Since about the sixteenth of September we have had no incidents. We maintain an active presence by patrolling up and down the entire pipeline, which is approximately seven kilometres in length." 1.28 10. LV TANKS ON PATROL 1.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOCATION 70 KMS SOUTH OF MOSUL, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAC5YXP3ORNCVHJXM4UICNRJ8NO
  • Story Text: U.S. soldiers have been patrolling Iraq's main crude
    oil export pipeline to deter saboteurs.




    In the desert of northern Iraq a pipeline built to
    export crude oil through neighbouring Turkey, is the focus
    of a huge security operation by the country's U.S.-led
    occupying forces.

    Last month, just as Iraq was about to resume shipments
    of oil through the northern export route after the war
    which ousted Saddam Hussein, anti-U.S. saboteurs blew up
    the pipeline, causing damage which has still not been
    repaired.

    Each day and night, U.S. armoured patrols backed by
    attack helicopters patrol up and down hundreds of
    kilometres (miles) of desert track which follow the
    pipeline from the Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish border.

    Captain Brian Deleon, who commands an artillery battery
    of the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division of the
    U.S. Army said that there have been no attacks since
    September 16 along the seven kilometre stretch of pipeline
    his section has been patrolling. "We maintain an active
    presence by patrolling up and down the entire pipeline," he
    said.

    In the villages along its desert route, tribal leaders
    have been recruited and paid to help organise more
    security, assisted by members of the Iraqi Civil Defence
    Force, a paramilitary group trained by U.S. forces.

    But even with hundreds of guards deployed up and down
    the 400 km (250 miles) of pipeline inside Iraq, if a
    saboteur wants to strike, he probably can, say U.S.

    soldiers.

    Iraqi guerrillas opposed to the U.S.-led occupation
    have focused their resistance campaign on attacks on U.S.

    soldiers. But by adding to the already huge costs of the
    war, pipeline sabotage is also a powerful weapon in their
    armoury.

    After the attack in August, shipments through the
    northern pipeline are not expected to resume until
    mid-October.

    That means for now, oil exports from Iraq -- which has
    the world's biggest reserves after Saudi Arabia -- are
    limited to sales from its southern fields through the Gulf.

    Total exports are less than half of pre-war levels of 2.2
    million barrels per day.

    The shortfall in expected revenues, badly needed to
    help finance post-war reconstruction efforts, will be
    filled mostly by U.S. aid. Further delays to the reopening
    of the pipeline would only add to pressure on President
    George W. Bush over the war's spiralling costs.

    U.S. officials have blamed supporters of deposed Iraqi
    president Saddam Hussein and foreign fighters for attacks
    on U.S. soldiers and Iraqi infrastructure.

    A fire last week on a feeder line to the main export
    pipeline seemed to be a bad omen, but U.S. and Iraqi
    investigators say they have yet to determine the cause of
    the fire.

    Meanwhile, the security patrols continue.



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