MOSUL, Iraq: Militants attacked a minor oil pipeline, halting the flow into a gathering facility in the restive northern Iraqi city of Mosul, security and oil sources said on Sunday. A bomb hit a minor pipeline, which carries about 700 barrels per day of crude from northern fields to a gathering facility in Ain Zala, northwest of Mosul, an official at state-run North Oil Company said.“It happened yesterday (Saturday)... maintenance is ongoing to fix the pipeline,” said the official, who asked not to be named. The pipe is not used for oil exports, he said.
A police source in Mosul said the explosion occurred early on Sunday and was caused by a bomb placed under an oil pipeline 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Mosul.
The Iraq-Turkey pipeline in the north, which carries around a quarter of IraqÂ’s oil exports, is regularly hit by sabotage, usually blamed on Al-Qaeda and the banned Baath party. A bomb attack on an oil storage depot set a storage tank ablaze last month in a rare assault in the usually more stable southern oilfields.
Iraqi officials say local armed forces are ready to contain any internal threat when the last US troops in the country leave in a planned withdrawal at year-end. But they acknowledge gaps in their capabilities such as naval and air defenses, and intelligence gathering. IraqÂ’s oil police, set up to protect refineries and pipelines, say they are still underequipped and understaffed for the job.