By Mariam Karouny
Reuters, 01 March 2006
BAGHDAD - Iraq's oil exports rose to 1.42 million barrels per day in February from 1.1 mln bpd in January, a top Iraqi oil official said on Wednesday, even though shipments from northern oilfields have been halted for weeks.
Under former president Saddam Hussein Iraq shipped around 1.7 million bpd.
"The exports were 1.42 mln bpd in February, we hope that it will rise in March as well," Shamkhi Faraj, director general of economics and oil marketing for state oil marketing agency SOMO, told Reuters.
Shippers also said better weather had reduced loading delays, adding to the stronger flow.
Exports have slumped as a lack of field maintenance, power cuts, insufficient storage and problems with tugs cut shipments out of Iraq's main southern terminal of Basra, exacerbating long-running security problems.
Since October Iraq's oil sector has suffered heavy attacks from insurgents who blew up pipelines in the north and also attacked oil convoys from the Baiji refinery to nearby Baghdad, deepening fuel shortages.
The attacks are compounded by mismanagement and turf battles in the oil ministry, a prized portfolio for politicians who face tough talks on the formation of new government after Dec. 15 elections.
To add to the problem, Iraqi oil officials have said Baghdad is losing millions of dollars to smugglers who are shipping oil from the south to Iran and other Gulf states as some government officials turn a blind eye.
Oil exports are Iraq's sole significant independent source of hard currency, vital for rebuilding after crushing sanctions and three wars in the last quarter of a century.
Keeping oil flowing from northern oilfields to the Ceyhan terminal on Turkey's Mediterrean coast is a ceaseless task for the oil ministry.
Pipelines feeding the main pumping station in Kirkuk came under attack in January and interior ministry sources on Wednesday said security forces arrested some of the Kirkuk pipeline guards, suspected of aiding the saboteurs.
It was the second time in weeks that members of the 16,000 strong force have been arrested for suspected involvement in attacks by insurgents.
Faraj said that exports from the north are still on hold and it was not clear when pumping will resume. Shippers said no tankers had loaded from Ceyhan in February.
"The pipeline that carries exports to Ceyhan is still not working, there isn't any pumping," Faraj said.
"I do not know when it will work again, they fix it and then it gets sabotaged again."
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Citation: Mariam Karouny. "Iraq's oil exports struggle higher in February," Reuters, 01 March 2006.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAR139722.htm
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