A bomb attack on an oil storage depot in Iraq’s Zubair oilfield set one tank ablaze and halted pumping from the station, sources said on Sunday.
AKnews reports that firefighters have got the flames under control, but 27,000 cubic meters of oil have been lost.
Four devices were planted, one started the fire, two were defused and one exploded damaging an empty tank.
Dhiya Jaffar, head of the state-run South Oil Company, told Reuters that the explosion had not affected pumping to Al Fao [Al Faw] port, from which crude oil is exported.
“Production has been adjusted so daily production levels and export levels are not affected. Exports are continuing at the same rate,” Jaffar told Reuters.
In recent years there have been fewer attacks on the oil infrastructure, but sporadic assaults still occur. The pipeline taking oil north to Turkey has been a particular target.
Italy’s ENI, U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum and South Korea’s KOGAS signed a 20-year deal with Iraq to develop Zubair. They set an eventual output target of 1.2 million barrels per day.
(Sources: Reuters, AKnews)