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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