Oil is no longer a ‘uniting force’ in Iraq

Oil is not just a factor in international politics and conflicts but also a factor that is responsible for internal politics and differences in Iraq. In recent weeks questions, about oil have moved from verbal conflicts to very violent ones indeed.

We all know by now the battles that raged in and around Baiji refinery, where good people wanted the place to be neutralized for the benefit of all Iraqis. Yet the result is ugly, with at least three fires erupting in the refinery and unknown damages being suffered. More importantly, the housing estate was so severely targeted by helicopters as to render it empty of its occupants, who had to flee for their safety.

A few days ago, the Qaiyara refinery, situated 80 kilometers south of Mosul, was targeted by an aircraft, which resulted in at least two process units and the control room getting severely damaged and a tank catching fire. Up next municipality building has been bombed by the same aircraft. It is miraculous indeed as no casualties have been reported after the incident.

The statement by the “anti-terror authority in coordination with the air force” said that 30 road tankers smuggling crude oil were destroyed. The question is, why target the process units and the municipality? Is it possible that the government is intent on destroying the oil infrastructure, especially as a day earlier a major storage depot south of Mosul was also bombed in addition to an earlier bombing of a major electrical substation?

The Asphalt Plant

The Qaiyara refinery is a special asphalt plant using the very heavy (16 API, 8 per cent S) crude from the field by the same name. It was built in 1957 for a capacity of 40,000 tonnes a year of asphalt but was expanded three times in the 1970s by the addition of three 120,000 tonnes a year units.

The other products have small capacities and are low in quality and used mainly for refinery fuel. Only naphtha was partially treated for export due to its high sulpher and hydrogen sulphide content or sent to a burning pit.

This is not the first time the Qaiyara refinery has been visited by bombers. It was severely damaged during the Iraq–Iran war towards the end of 1980 and it took almost three months to repair at a time when asphalt demand was high.

A common perception is that smugglers would not go for Qaiyara crude oil due to its high content of hydrogen sulphide. But he attacks are suggesting that smugglers are not lesser interested in this crude – they prefer risk taking.

The planners of this attack are probably unconcerned about the safety of the population around the refinery and oil field which are close to the town. Any major gas leak may have a devastating impact on the population.

There is no denying that smuggling of crude oil is going on a larger scale, but not from Qaiyara. The government knows very well where the “bourse” selling smuggled crude oil to the Kurdish region is, but so far it has shunned any action.

If the Iraqi government is so concerned about oil smuggling, it should have defended the Kirkuk and Byhassan oil fields where the Peshmerga is now in full control, in addition to the Kirkuk refinery and North Gas processing plant.

The Kurdish regional government now has the potential to export — or “smuggle” — more than half a million barrels a day from these fields faced only with verbal objections from the government in Baghdad who have appealed to the “wise men of the Kurds” to understand the situation and to reverse these actions.

The use of aircraft against plants and civilians is now well documented. A few days ago, 20 youngsters on a river beach in Mosul were killed in one raid and many more in other towns. This caused outrage among the population to the extent that some parties in the government of ‘National Alliance’ are now calling for a committee to review targets and the necessity of conducting air raids in order not to “widen the gap between the people and its armed forces”.