Category: Iraq

Turkey is doing its neighbors in Iraq a favor by hosting the first shipment of oil from the semiautonomous Kurdish north, the Turkish energy minister said. The semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in May announced its first delivery of more than 1 million barrels of oil from the Turkish sea port at Ceyhan. Iraq said the shipment violates the nation’s constitution and blames Ankara for making internal rows over oil worse. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said he opposed to Baghdad’s objections as income from the oil sales would be distributed among the Iraqis themselves. "Would it be better for Iraq if Turkey wasn’t letting Iraqi oil to flow through it? It wouldn’t," he said Monday. "We are a neighbor, friend and fraternal country that is laying the basis for the transmission of Iraqi oil to world markets." The central Iraqi government in Baghdad said it’s the […]

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The government of the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq said its oil policies are in line with the Iraqi constitution despite Baghdad’s complaints. The Kurdistan Regional Government announced a tanker loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude oil departed a Turkish sea port May 22 bound for the European market. It was the first such sale of oil taken from the northern Kurdish region. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzan met Saturday with U.N. special envoy to Iraq Nikolay Mladenov to stress his commitments to all obligations related to Iraq. This includes Iraq’s commitments regarding oil, he said. "The prime minister emphasized that the KRG oil policy is fully in line with the federal constitution of Iraq," the KRG said in a statement . There was no statement from Mladenov or the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq on the May oil sale. The central government in Baghdad […]

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United Leadership, which is carrying the first cargo of Kurdish crude loaded out of the Turkish port of Ceyhan, was outside of the Moroccan port of Mohammedia on Monday, according to Platts cFlow vessel tracking software. The vessel, which is carrying more than 1 million barrels of crude, is currently stationary outside of the port, which is the delivery point for the 200,000 b/d Mohammedia refinery, owned by Samir. A representative for Samir could not be immediately reached for comment. "The United Leadership arrived in Mohammedia today at 11:00 am [1000 GMT] and is to be received by Moroccan refiner Samir," a port agent said. As of last week, the cargo appeared to be headed towards the US Gulf Coast, but it turned sharply southeast over the weekend towards Morocco. United Leadership was loaded at Ceyhan a week and a half ago with stored Kurdish barrels at the Botas […]

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Violence claimed the lives of 799 Iraqis in May, the highest monthly death toll so far this year, the United Nations said Sunday, underlining the daunting challenges the Iraqi government faces as it struggles to contain a surge in sectarian violence. The figures issued by the United Nations mission to Iraq put last month’s civilian death toll at 603, with 196 members of security forces killed. The mission added that 1,409 Iraqis, including 1,108 civilians, were wounded. The previous month’s death toll stood at 750, making April the second deadliest month of the year. Despite the constant militant attacks that have left a vital oil pipeline idle, Iraq’s crude oil exports increased slightly in May, the Oil Ministry said Sunday. […]

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Iraq’s army must do more to protect a northern oil pipeline and should pay as much attention to it as it does to fighting militants, Iraq’s top energy official told AFP Sunday. The rare criticism of the security forces comes with the pipeline, which connects the northern province of Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, having been disabled for three months as a result of militant attacks as the army grapples with a year-long nationwide surge in violence. "I have pointed out repeatedly that this — protection of the export pipeline — should be a national priority, no less than confronting the terrorists in Fallujah or elsewhere," Hussein al-Shahristani, deputy prime minister responsible for energy affairs, said in an interview. He was referring to battles between security forces and anti-government fighters who have held sway over Fallujah, a […]

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Ill-equipped soldiers struggle with Anbar offensive as militants pour in across the border from Syria and join forces with local tribesmen Iraq’s acting defence minister looks beleaguered, his face drawn, with deep bags below his eyes from a lack of sleep. For four months, Sadoun Al Dulaimi has been operating from Anbar, the most dangerous province for US soldiers during the Iraq War and one again riven by conflict. The army has dispatched 42,000 troops here in a bid to quell Al Qaida-inspired jihadists and hostile tribesmen, whose resurgence is posing the biggest test for the Iraqi military and the country’s Shiite-led government since the withdrawal of US forces two and a half years ago. The battle is filled with potential pitfalls. A government failure to regain control in Sunni-dominated Anbar would jeopardise the country’s unity. But an escalated military offensive could deepen anger among the nation’s Sunni minority, […]

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Maliki pledges to "cleanse" Anbar of ISIS by start of Ramadan Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki speaks during a news conference with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Baghdad on January 13, 2014. (Reuters/Ahmed Saad) Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat —Iraqi Prime Minster Nuri Al-Maliki called for “jihad” against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq’s restive western Anbar province on Wednesday, pledging to crush the Islamist insurgency before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that is set to be begin in late June. In his weekly speech from Baghdad, Maliki also called for a “national dialogue” on Anbar, stressing that the Iraqi people must “stand with the security forces,” and that residents of Anbar must work with “their brothers from the tribes of Anbar and the local and central governments to accelerate the cleansing of Anbar” of ISIS militants. “Everybody must unite and return to the ranks of […]

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World Maliki: Elimination of Terrorists in Anbar Won’t Require Long Time TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced that the army’s campaign in Anbar will not be in need of a long time, stressing that the coming Holy month of Ramadan will witness restoring security in the restive province. The Iraqi leader also said that the local tribes are cooperating with the army to face ISIL terrorists, adding that crisis of the displaced will be ended soon, Al-Manar reported. It is worth noting that the Iraqi province of Anbar has been witnessing military clashes between the army and the terrorists of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which has committed numerous crimes against the Iraqi military and citizens.

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A crude oil tanker at the center of a dispute between Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad has reversed course from its route towards the United States, ship-tracking data showed on Friday, indicating that the shipper may not have a buyer. The United Leadership oil tanker has become a symbol of a wider conflict between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan over oil sales from the autonomous northern enclave, as it contains the first crude to come out of the region’s newly built pipeline into Turkey. Since loading at the Turkish port of Ceyhan last week, the United Leadership set course for the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to ship-tracking and market sources. The U.S. State Department said that it did not condone oil sales bypassing Baghdad, and that any buyers could risk a legal suit with the central government. “We do not support the export or sale of oil absent the appropriate approval […]

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Baghdad Attacks across Iraq, including a spate of car bombs in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, killed 63 people yesterday in the bloodiest violence to hit Iraq since April elections. The worst of the blasts went off during the evening and left dozens of people wounded, fuelling fears a protracted surge in violence is pushing Iraq back into the brutal communal conflict that left tens of thousands dead in 2006 and 2007. Separate deadly sets of car bombs hit both the Iraqi capital and Mosul, in the north, in the evening. In Baghdad’s deadliest attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in the mainly Shia neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah in north Baghdad, killing at least 16 people […]

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