Associated Press

April 18, 2003 Friday

HEADLINE: Looting at Iraq Oil Fields Hurts Recovery

BYLINE: BORZOU DARAGAHI; Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: BABA CITY, Iraq

BODY:
Crude oil from the wells of northern Iraq was expected to help stabilize world oil prices, fund the country's reconstruction and perhaps pay for some of the war efforts. But widespread looting of the northern oil facilities has put any prospect of a quick recovery in doubt.

In the south, war and sabotage have disabled oil production for months at least. Experts estimate it will cost between $3 billion and $5 billion over two years just to restore Iraq 's oil industry to its production levels before the 1991 Gulf War.

President Bush has called for an end to United Nations sanctions on Iraqi oil, but there looks to be long difficult negotiations at the United Nations before that happens.

To the north, in the pleasant, green suburb of Kirkuk , alongside some of the world's most productive oil fields, geologists, engineers and other petroleum industry workers are ready to put the now-dormant oil fields back in production.

But the offices, facilities and homes have been so thoroughly ransacked by looters that employees don't see how they can get oil flowing again soon.

"We cannot get all the workers to come to work now because we have no place to put them," said Adil Qazas, a geologist and top Northern Oil Company official. "We have no offices."

With 430 wells over roughly 185 square miles, Baba Gur Gur - discovered in 1927 - is one of the largest oil fields in the world. Before the war, it produced 600,000 barrels a day. Many experts say it could produce more.

"There are few fields in the world which can produce that much," said Abdul Wahab, a geologist who is considered the local expert on the region's history. "The Kirkuk field is one of the greatest, one of the giant fields of the world, not only of the Middle East ."

When Baghdad 's authority collapsed, Kurdish guerrilla fighters, called peshmerga, seized the processing plant and the fields before transferring power to American soldiers. Many of the company's top officials who were Baathist Party loyalists fled or disappeared as coalition forces took control of the area.

The U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Division now patrols the area and guards some of the facilities. But the administrative offices, supply depots and homes of Baba City were not protected.

Still, the engineers, scientists, cleaners, security guards and typists who ran Northern Oil's day-to-day operations remain, and many were expected to show up for work Saturday.

In the southern oil fields, engineers need to repair well heads damaged by retreating Iraqis and "shut in" non-producing oil wells to prevent ruptures and maintain pressure in the underground reservoirs. Plants that separate oil and gas are largely intact, and there has been limited damage to southern pipelines

The main export terminal in southern Iraq - the Persian Gulf port of Mina el-Bakr - was captured in good condition early in the war.

Southern Iraq's Rumeila South oil field, which produced at least 500,000 barrels of crude a day before the war, was one of the first secured by U.S. troops, but repair work there is just beginning.

A team from Houston-based Boots & Coots International Well Control is at the field to better inspect the well heads for damage. Six well heads burned in the field after Iraqis sabotaged them. Those and at least six others must be inspected for loose seals and other damage.

A Boots & Coots worker said it could take another week to get clearance to begin replacing the damaged well heads.

The rest of the field's oil infrastructure also must be thoroughly inspected before production can begin. Underground flow-lines from the wells, oil gathering stations and larger transit pipes must be examined for possible damage from shrapnel or sabotage. In addition, electricity must fully be restored in the area to allow submersible pumps to operate inside the wells.

Foreign experts could eventually restart production at Rumeila South, but they hope to enlist the help of Iraqi workers who know it best.