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Syria to supply Iraq with fuel
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Azzaman - [8/15/2006]
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Iraq has signed new contracts with Syria to supply it with oil products in a bid to alleviate the fuel crisis, a senior Oil Ministry official said.
Mohammad al-Zaibari, head of the Northern Fuel Distribution Company, said Damascus has agreed to ferry “huge quantities” of fuel to Iraq.
The country is now passing through its worst fuel crisis since the U.S. invasion. Lack of gas and kerosene is so severe that many families go now with cooking.
But Zaibari said he hoped the deals with Syria will “solve the crisis.”
It is not clear how Syria, a country with hardly enough refining capacity to meet domestic needs, will help.
Prior to the U.S. invasion Iraq used to have excess refining capacity which helped it export fuel products to neighboring states among them Syria.
Zaibari attributed the shortages to sabotage attacks targeting oil pipelines and installations.
Iraq used to produce up to 20 million liters of gasoline a day before the U.S. invasion. Currently production is estimated at 3 million liters.
The country’s largest refinery in Baiji, with a capacity to churn out more than 350,000 barrels a day, is in a shambles due to lack of maintenance and repeated attacks.
Iraq, which sits on massive oil reserves, has turned into a major importer of oil products with its fuel import bill hitting half a billion dollars a month.
Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani is in talks in Tehran on how to increase Iranian fuel exports to the country.
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