IRAQ: SABOTEURS ATTACK OIL PIPELINE IN HAWIJAT AL-FALLUHAH LINKING IRAQ'S NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN OIL FIELDS
Record ID:
344953
IRAQ: SABOTEURS ATTACK OIL PIPELINE IN HAWIJAT AL-FALLUHAH LINKING IRAQ'S NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN OIL FIELDS
- Title: IRAQ: SABOTEURS ATTACK OIL PIPELINE IN HAWIJAT AL-FALLUHAH LINKING IRAQ'S NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN OIL FIELDS
- Date: 4th July 2004
- Summary: (W4) HAWIJAT AL-FALLUJA, IRAQ (JULY 4, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. LV/SLV: SMOKE RISING FROM PIPELINE/ FIRE-FIGHTING ENGINES AND POLICEMEN ON SITE (2 SHOTS) 0.17 2. FIRE RAGING FROM SABOTAGED PIPELINE/ THICK BLACK CLOUD COVERING AREA 0.26 3. PAN UP: CLOUD OF SMOKE 0.48 4. FIRE FIGHTING ENGINE ARRIVING NEAR DAMAGED PIPELINE 0.58 5. FIRE ENGINE COMBATING FIRE 1.11 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) FIRE FIGHTER, MAHDI ZAKI, SAYING: "According to available information the oil pipeline was hit by an act of sabotage and immediately after fire fighter brigades of Kerbala Fire-Fighting Directorate rushed to the site and operations were still on to put off and control the fire. The operation will take a long time because the acccident was very big." 1.38 7. FIRE FIGHTERS AND OIL EMPLOYEES, RAGING PIPELINE IN BACKGROUND 1.42 8. HUGE FIRE AND THICK BLACK SMOKE 1.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HAWIJAT AL-FALLUJAH, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA71J8F8A34CV3F0N8Y009SYIAF
- Story Text: Saboteurs attack Iraq strategic oil pipeline,
witnesses said.
Saboteurs attacked the oil pipeline linking Iraq's
northern and southern fields on Sunday (July 4), a day
after they hit another pipeline that cut exports by half,
officials and witnesses said.
Columns of smoke were rising hundreds of metres from a
section of the strategic pipeline in the Hawijat
al-Fallujah area, some 80 km (50 miles) southwest of
Baghdad.
A number of fire fighting engines rushed to the site
and fire fighters exerted efforts to control the raging
fire.
"According to available information the oil pipeline was
hit by an act of sabotage and immediately after fire
fighter brigadesof Kerbala Fire-Fighting Directorate rushed
to the site and operations were still on to put off and
control the fire. The operation will take a long time
because the acccident was very big," said fireman Captain
Mehdi Zaki from Kerbala Fire-Fighting Brigade," one of the
fire fighters said.
Industry insiders say northern crude was being secretly
pumped through the pipeline for export through two offshore
southern terminals.
Northern crude is usually pumped through a pipeline to
Turkey, but sabotage has forced Iraq to divert flows south.
Exports from the southern terminals, which account for
all of Iraq's oil exports, fell to 960,000 barrels per day
on Saturday after saboteurs blew a hole in one of two
pipelines feeding them.
Iraq used to export around 2 million bpd before the
attack on the southern pipeline on Saturday.
The attack on the smaller of two pipelines feeding two
offshore terminals stopped operations at the Khor al-Amya
terminal and restricted flows to the bigger Basra terminal,
from where most Iraqi oil is exported.
Flows to tankers at the Basra terminal, formerly known
as Mina al-Bakr, were running at 41,000 barrels per hour.
The tanker Stena Congress was loading at 31,000 barrels
per hour and the Astro Cassiopeia at 11,000 barrels per
hour.
Flows to Basra platforms were running at 70,000 barrels
per hour before the attack, which blew a hole in the
42-inch pipeline running through the Faw Peninsula, despite
security that was stepped up following similar attacks last month.
Iraqi exports are dependent on the Gulf route. Attacks
on the two southern pipelines and other oil installations
have stopped exports several times this year.
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