Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
:Iraq Political handover dealt blowasinsurgents Wreck crucial
pipelines andassassinate top industry executive
Vital'oil
exports
halted
after
sabotage
Jonathan Steele In Baghdad
and Terry Macalister
-,
The export of oil from Iraq
was brought to a halt yesterday
after attacks on two key
pipelines and the assassination
of a top oil executive dealt
a fresh blow to US plans to
hand over sovereignty atthe
end of the month.
The attacks sent the global
price of American light oil up
26 cents to $37.45 (£21.52) a
barrel and forced Opec, already
pumpingout extra oil to
meet soaring demand, to step
in. Itpromised to prevent any
"real shprtage" while calling
on producers from outside their
cartel to increase supplies to
make up for the shortfall.
The attacks yesterday and on
Thesday north QfFaw were the
worst since US forces toppled
the regime in Aprillast year. It
could take a week to repair the
damage, said Samir. Jassim,
the spokesman for the Southern
Oil Company.
The two sabotaged pipelines
fed crude oil from storage
tanks to terminals at Basra
and Khor Amaya. Iraq was
exporting virtually aH of its
1.6m barrels a day of Basra
light crude from the Basra
terminal, while a few tankers
were loading at the nearby
Khor Amaya port.
, Repairing the smaller of the
two pipelines would allow
exports to resume. at about
700,000 barrels, an Iraqi oil
industry souree said.
Saboteurs blew up the
southern oit export network in
early May, cutting Basra light
exports to a million. barrels
a day for nearly two weeks
before repairs were 'completed.
The damage this time
is more serious.
In a further attack on the oil
industry, gunmen in the city of
Kirkuk yefterday killed Ghazi
Talabani, the top security offieer
in the state-run Northern
Oil company. They fired at his
Pollee In lra~patrol the pipelines near Faw yesterday after~e'attacks which could _t
the country back $1 bn In revenues Photograph:
car after his bodyguard briefly
left the vehicle in a crowded
market. The bOdyguard was
wounded.
The security chief was the
cousin of Jalal Talabani, the
lead,er of the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan, one of the two
main Kurdish political parties.
He is the third senior government
official to be murdered
in the past four days. His