Baghdad condemns Kurdish seizure of northern oil fields

Dubai (Platts)--14Jul2014/853 am EDT/1253 GMT

Iraq's oil ministry condemned Sunday the seizure of crude oil production facilities at the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan oil fields in the north of the country by Kurdish Peshmerga armed forces.

Peshmerga forces, along with numerous civilians, entered the crude oil stations at the two fields, driving out the workers from state-owned North Oil Company early Friday, the oil ministry said in a statement.

Calling on the forces to retreat from the fields, the ministry warned the Kurdistan Regional Government of "the seriousness of this irresponsible action which is an encroachment on the constitution and the national fortune, as well as ignorance for the federal authority and a threat to the national unity."

"These forces were supposed to help the Iraqi security forces defeat terrorist gangs and protect the people and their fortune, but instead they took advantage of the exceptionally bad circumstances in Iraq and initiated raids over these important oil locations," the ministry said.

According to the KRG, the operation to seize the fields was launched in response to orders from the oil ministry to its staff to sabotage pipeline infrastructure linking the Avana dome with the Khurmala field.

It had already taken over the security of a large area that the Iraqi military had been unable to control, but up until last Friday had not taken over the administration of the oil fields.

The fields have a capacity of some 500,000 b/d, but production has been shut due to violence across northern Iraq. The KRG says it will use the production to fill the shortage of refined products in the domestic market since the closure of the 320,000 b/d Baiji refinery in mid-June.

--Adal Mirza, adal.mirza@platts.com --Edited by Deepa Vijiyasingam, deepa.vijiyasingam@platts.com

 

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