Pipeline bombs in Iraq hit BP oilfield

By Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad
Published on Monday 10 October 2011 21:26

A PAIR of bombs struck two oil pipelines in southern Iraq, causing a temporary cut in production at the country’s largest oil field.

The blasts took place late Friday at the Rumaila field, which is developed by BP, sparking a fire that took firefighters a few hours to extinguish, said the deputy head of the Basra provincial council, Ahmed al-Sulaiti. No-one was hurt.

Such attacks are rare in Iraq’s oil-rich south where international oil companies have begun flooding in to help develop vast oil reserves. Basra is Iraq’s second-largest province and home to about 70 per cent of the country’s proven oil reserves of 143.1 billion barrels.

The attack forced officials to cut production by about 600,000 barrels from around 1.25 million barrels per day, said Dhia Jaafar, the director-general of the state-run South Oil Co.

He said the country’s oil exports were not affected and production should be restored to normal levels in two days.

“It is a terrorist attack and sabotage act,” he said. “It is a clear security breach and that we should all cooperate to catch and punish those behind it so that it will not be repeated.”

The Rumaila field is Iraq’s largest with 17.8 billion barrels. It is being developed by BP and China’s CNPC. Iraq’s daily production stands at about 2.9 million barrels per day and oil exports average around 2.1 million barrels per day.

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