Iraq oil workers keep flow going for now

WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- Iraq oil flow cut by a pipeline bombing Thursday has returned, but continued fighting in Basra will soon take its toll, the leader of Iraq's oil workers said.

"There's a curfew in Basra so the workers are not able to go to work," Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of the umbrella Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, told United Press International via telephone from his home.

Gunfire grew loud during the interview Friday evening as Iraq's military assault on the city closed out day number four with an estimated 100 dead and 500 injured. This has prevented workers in the field from leaving as well.

"They are stuck there and are not able to get out," Awad said, "but our workers are still there and trying even without enough security they continue their work and they continue working the stations."

He said food and supplies are being brought to the workers, whose usual eight-hour shift has lasted days with the violence's end unclear, "but they are not sure how long this will continue."

One of the smaller pipelines carrying oil to export in Basra province -- from where most of Iraq's 1.9 million barrels per day head to market -- was attacked Thursday morning. The South Oil Co. said production feeding other pipelines had been increased.

Awad said the decrease in production was "not very much … exports are still the same."

While a cut in electricity and water supplies is affecting the workers in the field, residents of Basra are facing the brunt of the fighting.

"For the fourth day, people are miserable in Basra. They didn't expect an increase in violence, didn't expect a curfew," Awad said, "and don't have enough supplies in their homes. It is very hard times for people in Basra."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Iraqi military action was to clear the city of gangs, criminals and militias that have led to an increase in smuggling -- especially of oil and fuel -- decreasing government revenue and increasing violence. Only one militia, the Mahdi Army of cleric Moqtada Sadr, is apparently being targeted, and the resistance is so strong that U.S. air power has been used in Basra bombings.

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Ben Lando, UPI Energy Editor

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(e-mail: blando@upi.com)