Iraq oil sector sees militant attacks fall

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Attacks on Iraqi pipelines and other oil facilities have dropped sharply, a top security official said, boding well for the safety of foreign firms wading into Iraq’s rich but risky oil sector.

The Iraqi oil sector has fallen prey to repeated attack over six years of chaos and insurgency since U.S.-led soldiers ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Oil flows have been disrupted by pipeline bombs, terminals crippled in suicide attacks and officials blown up in roadside blasts or kidnapped from their offices at gunpoint.

But General Hamid al-Husseini, who heads Iraq’s specialized Oil Police, said in a recent interview that his 30,000 soldiers trained with U.S. backing had made great strides and were now up to the task of protecting Iraq’s oil industry.

Reuters