IRAQ: SABOTEUR'S BOMB MAY HAVE CAUSED 24-HOUR OIL PIPELINE FIRE THAT SEVERED NEWLY REOPENED EXPORT ROUTE TO TURKEY

Record ID: 344991

  • Title: IRAQ: SABOTEUR'S BOMB MAY HAVE CAUSED 24-HOUR OIL PIPELINE FIRE THAT SEVERED NEWLY REOPENED EXPORT ROUTE TO TURKEY
  • Date: 17th August 2003
  • Summary: (W6) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV U.S-APPOINTED OIL MINISTER THAMIR GHADBAN AND IRAQI POLICE CHIEF BRIGADIER AHMED IBRAHIM ENTER NEWS CONFERENCE; MV MEDIA (3 SHOTS) 0.18 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) THAMIR GHADBAN, SAYING "The pipeline as you might know is buried underneath the ground and there is a sort-of a soil about one metre on top on the upper surface of the pipeline. Our information is that explosive has been used to damage the pipeline." 0.38 3. MV MEDIA 0.39 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GHADBAN, SAYING "We are taking measures to secure the pipeline. Of course I must say it is not really our direct responsibility. There are other bodies, among them of course the Iraqi police and (inaudible) perhaps also the leaders of the tribes and the citizens of Iraq would also contribute to that end. Our call is that - ask everybody concerned in Iraq to keep those pipelines run safely because in that there is a lots of benefits to the people of Iraq." 1.21 (W6) BAIJI, IRAQ (AUGUST 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 5. SLV OIL PIPELINE ABLAZE (6 SHOTS) 2.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, BAIJI, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAAPOWLENCAMD1KHF8I6SDS1BNF
  • Story Text: A saboteur's bomb may have caused the 24-hour oil
    pipeline fire that severed Iraq's newly reopened export
    route to Turkey.

    Baghdad's U.S.-appointed de facto oil minister said
    on Saturday (August 16) a saboteur's bomb probably caused
    the 24-hour oil pipeline fire that severed Iraq's newly
    reopened export route to Turkey,
    "We believe at this stage it was an explosive device
    planted on the pipeline," Thamir Ghadban told a news
    conference in Baghdad.

    He added that it would be several days before the
    pipeline was back in working order.

    Several other technical hitches have also crippled the
    line just days after the crude started flowing again from
    Iraq's northern fields following the war that toppled
    Saddam Hussein.

    The sabotage highlighted continued instability.

    Flames engulfed a section of the pipeline north of the
    town of Baiji for 24 hours, before being extinguished on
    Saturday.

    Saboteurs opposed to the U.S. occupation have been
    blamed for several fires and explosions that have plagued
    the route.

    Lieutenant Colonel William MacDonald, a spokesman for
    the 4th Infantry Division which controls much of northern
    Iraq from Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, said it could take
    two to three weeks to repair the section of the pipeline
    damaged by the fire.

    Even before news of the fire, the U.S. military said
    the pipeline had been shut because some sections could not
    handle the pressure after it reopened this week.

    The new problems dealt a painful blow to Iraq, which
    had worked for months to repair the pipeline after a spate
    of blasts blamed on saboteurs had deprived the country of
    oil revenues needed for reconstruction.

    It was not clear how long it would take to revive the
    pipeline, which had begun moving Iraq's Kirkuk crude for
    the first time since exports were revived following the
    war.

    Iraq had been exporting oil only from the south before
    the northern pipeline opened again. But the southern region
    also faces problems. Theft of power lines has halved
    exports and threatens to bring sales to a standstill.



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