Basra violence threatens Iraq's oil
|
|
|
BASRA, Iraq, April 17 Political and sectarian fighting in Iraq's oil capital, Basra, intensifies, threatening most of Iraq's oil production and all its oil exports.Basra is majority Shiite and, as the central city of the vast majority of Iraq's oil reserves and the largest port where nearly all its oil exports are sent from, equally as important to Iraq as Baghdad. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves, and production is struggling at around 2 million barrels per day. Oil sales make up 93 percent of Iraq's budget.The local government is controlled by the Fadhila Party. Its biggest competitor is the alliance led by Moqtada Sadr. The two sides launched bitter and violent battles against each other over the past weeks.On Monday a large demonstration was held in Basra demanding Muhammad Masbah al Waili, the Fadhila Party governor of Basra province, resign. Sadr and his Mahdi Army deny involvement in the rally and subsequent campaign for Waili to step down.Regardless, it "marks a new escalation in intra-Shiite tensions, which will expose government institutions and energy infrastructures in the southern provinces to serious security risks," Rochdi Younsi, analyst for Middle East and Africa for the business risk firm Eurasia Group, wrote in a new report. Sadr says Waili and the Fadhila Party in Basra are corrupt, including involvement in oil smuggling that has cost the Iraqi government billions of dollars in oil revenues and worsened the fuel shortage in the country. Local tribal leaders also back that accusation, Younsi wrote. Fadhila accuses Sadr of planning a violent regional coup, including taking control of the Southern Oil Company."Local oil infrastructures could be exposed to a higher security risk as the Shiite community in the south becomes more fragmented," Younsi wrote. Copyright 2007 by UPI
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
ElBaradei sceptical about Iran's nuclear counterproposals - Summary
Vienna/Tehran - International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei reacted sceptically to Iran's counterproposals on a multinational nuclear fuel deal on Wednesday and indicated he does not see a need to change th...
EXTRA: ElBaradei sceptical about Iranian nuclear deal ideas
Vienna - International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei reacted sceptically to Iranian counterproposals to a multinational nuclear fuel deal on Wednesday and indicated he does not see a need to change the agreement drafted by the IAEA. Re...
World powers seek IAEA resolution on Iranian nuclear site - Summary
Vienna - Six world powers aim to put pressure on Iran with a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that would censure Tehran over its new nuclear site and would involve the UN Security Council, diplomats said Tuesday. The IAEA's...
World powers seek IAEA resolution voicing 'serious concern' Iran
Vienna - Six world powers have drafted a resolution to censure Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over a new nuclear facility and to involve the UN Security Council, several diplomats said Tuesday. The IAEA's governing board is set...
Norwegian group hopes to use osmosis to produce power
Oslo - Oil and gas rich Norway on Tuesday inaugurated a prototype power plant to produce energy based on the principle of osmosis. This new technology generates electricity simply by mixing water, said Bard Mikkelsen, the chief executive of Statkraf...
Ukraine gas company chief: 'No cut offs for New Year'
Kiev - Russian natural gas supplies will flow uninterrupted to European consumers at the beginning of 2010, a senior Ukrainian official said on Monday, according to an Interfax news agency report. This year we are going to meet the New Year at home,...
Report: Iraq to seek US nuclear technology
Baghdad - Iraq, reportedly home to the world's third-largest oil reserves, will seek peaceful nuclear technology from the United States, an Iraqi lawmaker said in remarks published Monday. The government seeks to produce and use nuclear energy for p...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
