Large fire at oil and gas complex in northern Iraq

[Robbien]

It is not known whether the fire was the result of accident or sabotage.

The fire is burning at the North Oil Company complex in northern Iraq. Firefighters and Iraqi soldiers have been battling the blaze, backed by American forces.

No casualties have been reported.

An Iraqi police captain says the fire covers the entire oil complex. Pipelines that normally carry oil and natural gas to area refineries and power stations are closed.

It's being called the biggest fire at the complex in five months.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4806878

[Halliburton]

1. that should add to the high prices

[rurallib]

4. Exxon said it'll have to raise prices .50/gallon

to cover the fire and a recent retiree.

[earthmama]

15. really?

[Roland99]

2. Biggest fire in 5 months? This has happened before?

Oy vey.


But, hey, "we're making progress!"

[Kierkegaard]

5. Exactly.

Everything is fine. Just ignore all the bad press coming out of Iraq...

:eyes:

[Robbien]

7. These pipelines were down due to sabotage for the first two years

after the invasion. A bomb every four or five days made sure no oil flowed. Its only been up and running this last year.

[Roland99]

8. Well, that *is* progress!

:eyes:

[Poll_Blind]

3. Lemme guess- lightning?! No? n/t

PB

[yourout]

6. Now oil will hit $80 a barrel this week.

Any excuse will do.

[Roland99]

9. No updates this morning. Only 4 hits on news.google.com

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D4805742%26nav%3D2aKD

[sarcasmo]

10. Here comes the summer blockbuster. How high will it go. The star actors

Exxon and Mobil, the villain Citgo who will try and help us out by lowering their price. Then watch Citgo be vilified for their support.

[robinlynne]

11. and halliburton will be right there to fix it all.

[Canuckistanian]

12. All part of the plan

Keep those oil fields unproductive and keep the prices high.

Meanwhile, that oil stays in the ground for later plundering.

Those Iraqi armies will never be fully trained to handle these "emergencies" and the Saudi/Bushco cartel will continue to dictate oil prices and supply.

So obvious.

[PurityOfEssence]

13. Doesn't Halliburton owe it to us to fix this? That WAS the deal, right?

If memory serves, they were given a blanket deal before the invasion based on an expectation of x oil well fires. Unlike 1991, there were hardly any, so this should be something they owe us, right?

[TexasLawyer]

14. accident or sabotage ?

It happened in Iraq, in a war zone.

It involves oil infrastructure.

It involves a sitting-duck target.

The entire facility is completely engulfed in fire.

Hmmm... This is a no brainer. It is the work of a giant half-chicken/half squirrel.