Iraq oil pipelines hit by biggest attacks yet

BAGHDAD – Saboteurs have mounted the biggest attacks yet on Iraq’s oil infrastructure, blowing up four pipelines in the north in 24 hours, and hitting exports via Turkey, oil officials said on Tuesday.

The attacks, which were hours apart, sharply reduced crude oil supplies to Iraq’s biggest refinery at Baiji. The government is already struggling to build up stocks of refined oil products ahead of winter.

Sabotage against oil facilities in north and central Iraq has intensified in the past few weeks as U.S. forces has mounted attacks on Sunni Muslim cities where insurgents have support. Imports of refined products have been also disrupted.

The first pipeline attack on Monday night destroyed a section of the Iraq-Turkey export pipeline in the Riyadh area, 65 km southwest of the oil producing centre of Kirkuk, officials at the state North Oil Company said.

It was followed by two other attacks, including one in the Qoshqaya region northwest of the city on a pipeline connected to the Bai Hassam oilfield and feeding the main export pipeline, officials said.

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