KIRKUK, Iraq, April 9 Iraq's Oil Ministry says northern pipeline attacks cost $165 million a day in potential revenue and wants the Kirkuk council to do more to prevent it.The Voices of Iraq news agency reports the ministry said the pipeline from Kirkuk, in Iraq's north, to a port in Ceyhan, Turkey, is "now defunct" because of attacks. The pipeline, the sole source for shipping oil from Iraq's northern fields to Turkish markets and beyond, is a constant target of Sunni insurgents. Most of Iraq's 2 million barrels per day of production comes from oil fields in the south, and virtually all of its 1.6 million bpd exports are from Basra, on the Persian Gulf.The northern pipeline has a capacity of 300,000 bpd.Hussein al-Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister, said production from Kirkuk can meet refining capacity in the north, though an electricity shortage often keeps the refineries offline and the region complains of a fuel shortage. The entire country lacks sufficient transportation, heating and cooking fuels.Shahristani said the pipeline attacks are costing Iraq "millions of dollars in daily losses." He asked the Kirkuk local council do more to protect the oil infrastructure from attacks.Copyright 2007 by UPI
