Category: Iraq

Mideast Iraq Islamic State BAGHDAD (AP) — The head of the European Union’s humanitarian aid department warned on Thursday that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating rapidly while the world is preoccupied with crises elsewhere. Shortly after Jean-Louis de Brouwer sounded the stark warning, a wave of car bombs targeting public places after nightfall in Baghdad and in a town just south of the Iraqi capital killed a total of 21 people and wounded scores of others. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks but Baghdad and its surroundings have seen near-daily bombings, mostly targeting the country’s majority Shiites or security forces even as authorities struggle to win back territory captured by the Islamic State group. Earlier in the day, De Brouwer told The Associated Press that the number of displaced people in Iraq has quadrupled in the last year and shows no signs of decreasing. "The worst […]

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A militant stands guard on a road leading to the Baiji refinery. This photograph, taken in July 2014, was given to Iraq Oil Report by a technician at the refinery. BAGHDAD – Fighters from the so-called Islamic State (IS) group have made their largest incursion yet into the Baiji refinery, seizing most of the compound from pro-government security forces who have been hampered by inconsistent supply lines and incoherent strategic planning. Several security officials based in Salahaddin province – including one soldier from the 5th Brigade of the federal police who was reached by phone inside the refinery – said hundreds of fighters from the IS group (which is often referred to as "Daesh" in Arabic) have intensified their attacks over the past two days, using several car and truck bombs, suicide attackers, rockets, and heavy artillery. "We have very little food and ammunition, and we can’t withstand the […]

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A member of the Iraqi forces checks the horizon during a recent patrol west of Baghdad. U.S. officials are considering training Iraqi troops to act as ground controllers for airstrikes. (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images) The Obama administration is considering training Iraqis to handle ground control for airstrikes, a move that would significantly expand their role in the fight against the militant group Islamic State, a senior administration official said Thursday. The administration has been reluctant to put U.S. special forces at risk by deploying them on the ground in Iraq to call in strikes against targets associated with Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. At the same time, officials have been reluctant to rely on the Iraqis for a job that requires lengthy training. But the absence of what the military calls joint terminal attack controllers has lengthened the time it takes to direct airstrikes, raising […]

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BAGHDAD — Iraq will at long last be getting the first batch of F-16 fighter jets it ordered four years ago, its air force commander said Thursday, a shipment that is expected to boost Iraq’s capabilities in battling the extremist Islamic State group. Lt. Gen. Anwar Hama Amin said the fighters would arrive on July 12 along with the U.S.-trained Iraqi pilots and spare parts and would immediately begin carrying out operations, according to a statement posted late Wednesday on the Defense Ministry’s web site. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad did not confirm the date, and only said the planes were expected by the summer. Iraq first ordered the 18 jets for $3 billion in 2011 to supplement its almost nonexistent air force. A year later, then-Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki complained over the delays in delivering the planes. The pilots have been training with three of the planes in […]

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has informed its partners they can start loading Basra Heavy crude from May, instead of its flagship light grade, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday. The No.2 OPEC producer is splitting its southern oil production into two streams – a light and a heavy grade – to resolve quality issues dogging its exports. SOMO told its partners that the new heavy grade could be loaded from single point mooring units 1 and 3 in southern Basra, the sources said. But two of its partners due to receive the heavy grade complained they had already sold Basra Light crude that was allocated to their companies 1-2 months ago for loading in April and May. "We were expecting it (the launch of Basra Heavy) to happen in June but it came earlier than expected," said a source […]

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Iraqi pro-government forces fire a rocket during an operation to retake the Baiji oil refinery from Islamic State (IS) group on April 16, 2015. (MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP/Getty Images) Recommend 7 people recommend this. Sign Up to see what your friends recommend. The Islamic State (IS) militant group still poses an immediate threat to the Baiji oil refinery, three days after Iraqi military leaders declared the facility had been secured.Several security officials in Baghdad and northern Iraq have given conflicting accounts of the extent to which the 36-square-kilometer refinery compound is under government control: some say it is secure; some say IS fighters are still inside; and others say there was another attack Wednesday.Even the most optimist…

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Growth in Iraq’s oil production capacity may slow as lower crude prices hurt the ability of OPEC’s number two producer to pay international oil companies for work there, officials from BP Plc and OAO Lukoil said. Lukoil sees a “significant reduction” in the growth rate of Iraqi output capacity in 2016 and 2017 due to the decline in crude price, Gati Al-Jebouri, senior vice president at Lukoil Overseas, said in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. BP’s ability to meet its production targets depends on the government approving the company’s proposed investment plans, said Michael Townshend, the company’s regional president for the Middle East. The slump in global crude prices over the past year has cut the Iraqi government’s income even as it battles Islamic extremists that have seized parts of the country. That risks sidetracking Iraq’s efforts, after decades of conflict and sanctions that choked investment, to boost crude production […]

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BAGHDAD, April 20 (Xinhua) — Kurdish security forces on Monday fought back the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq’s oil-rich province of Kirkuk, while the Iraqi forces continued their battles against the extremist militants in the country’s central province of Salahudin, security source said. In Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk, the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, repelled an attack by the IS militants on two villages near the town Daqouq, some 40 km south of the provincial capital city of Kirkuk, leaving at least five Peshmerga members killed and 16 others wounded, a Kurdish security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The extremist militants started their attack with suicide bombers and mortar barrage on the Peshmerga positions in the two villages and were followed with dozens of IS militants armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades, the source said without giving further details about the IS […]

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LONDON (Reuters) – Iraq’s oil exports have slipped so far in April to 2.92 million barrels per day (bpd), according to loading data and industry sources, although shipments from OPEC’s second-largest producer remain close to a record high. If sustained, Iraq’s exports this month will be just short of the record of 2.98 million bpd set in March. Another strong month from Iraq adds to signs of continued high output from major members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Exports from Iraq’s southern terminals have averaged 2.50 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first 19 days of April, according to shipping data seen by Reuters and an industry source, down from 2.71 million bpd in March. But exports from Iraq’s north via Ceyhan in Turkey, comprising Iraq’s Kirkuk crude and Kurdish oil, have averaged 420,000 bpd so far in the month, according to loading data and […]

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ENLARGE Displaced Iraqis who fled fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State for the city of Ramadi, 60 miles from Baghdad, arrive on the outskirts of the capital on Sunday. Photo: ahmad al-rubaye/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images AMRIYAT AL-FALLUJAH, Iraq—Fighting between Islamic State and Iraqi security forces has displaced at least 90,000 civilians in the past several days, the United Nations said on Sunday, as a new humanitarian crisis unfolded on the fringes of the capital. Thousands of displaced people carried what few belongings they could across a floating bridge that forms the only connection between Anbar province—the heartland of Iraq’s Sunni minority—and Baghdad over the weekend. Most were fleeing the embattled city of Ramadi—Anbar’s provincial capital about 60 miles west of Baghdad. Fighting in Anbar intensified two weeks ago when provincial officials announced the start of a campaign to clear the province of Islamic State insurgents. Late last week, […]

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