Iraq northern oil attacks take $11 billion

BAGHDAD, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Iraq's Oil Ministry said it lost $11 billion and 651 days of oil exports because of attacks on its northern oil pipeline.

The ministry said those numbers are just from 2004 through the first half of 2006, according to the business Web site Iraq Directory.

In that 2 1/2-year span, the Kirkuk to Ceyhan, Turkey, pipeline was inoperable for roughly 1 year and 8 months.

Iraq has about 115 billion barrels of reserves, the third-largest in the world, most of which are located in the Shiite-controlled south and Kurdish north. The south has largely been free of sabotage from factional fighting.

But in the north, Sunni militias intent on hurting the Kurdish prospects at autonomy and wealth have attacked the pipeline, especially in the sections that bend southwest from the Kurdistan Regional Government area, before it heads north to Turkey.

Iraq produces 1.9 million barrels a day, less than the 2.6 million before the war. This number fluctuates but continues to stay low because of years of misuse and disrepair of the oil infrastructure during Saddam Hussein's regime, as well as a decade of sanctions and the wrath brought by the U.S.-led war and occupation.

Last month, the Oil Ministry said the northern pipeline was virtually unusable because of constant attacks and a lack of reliable electricity to operate it.