BAGHDAD, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A top Iraqi official said militias have been able to steal millions of dollars from the oil ministry, funding their organizations and creating a fuel crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said the militias are those fighting the U.S. coalition and Iraq troops, the Arabic daily newspaper Azzaman reports.
He said they have been able to steal $1.5 million a year from the Baiji refinery, the largest refinery in Iraq serving oil coming from fields in Iraq's north.
Iraq oil production hasn't recovered from the March 2003 invasion and subsequent violence. It was already suffering under U.N. sanctions and misuse and mismanagement by Saddam Hussein.
More than three-quarters of the 2 million barrels per day production comes from fields in the south, controlled by Shiites but relatively nonviolent.
In the north, attacks on the refinery and the Kirkuk-to-Ceyhan, Turkey, pipeline have virtually shut down most production and all exports from the region.
Iraq suffers from lack of oil production, low refining capacity and a refined fuel products shortage, forcing it to import fuel such as gasoline and kerosene.
"Crime is behind the fuel crisis," Saleh said. "We have a regime and an administration that encourages corruption."
