OIL INDUSTRY Repairs to Sabotaged Pipeline Are Delayed

[Robbien]

By JAMES GLANZ

Published: June 20, 2004

UBAYR, Iraq, June 19 — The gash in a critical pipeline that saboteurs struck four days ago remained submerged in a vast lake of crude oil on Saturday, defying attempts at repairs that would get the oil moving again to tankers in the Persian Gulf.

In southern summer heat of at least 120 degrees, with great plumes of flames and smoke at refineries dotting the horizon of a parched and desolate plain, workers at times moved so slowly that they seemed to be mirages. The pace frustrated American military and private engineers who were there to drain the lake so that repairs could proceed. "It's just really a logistical nightmare to work here," said Michael Doherty of the Army Corps of Engineers, a resident engineer on an oil infrastructure restoration in the south, who had led a convoy of pumps, lights and cranes across nearly impassable roads. "You don't have it, you can't go back for it."

At the same time, suspicions grew here that the attack on this pipeline last Tuesday, and on another large pipeline the day before, were in effect inside jobs, explosions so carefully placed in the barely comprehensible web of Iraqi pipelines that only someone with expert knowledge could have directed the work. The attacks shut down exports from Iraq's southern oil fields, which are by far its most productive.

. . .

Rare equipment for stopping oil leaks did not arrive. Convoys with both equipment and technical experts took hours to organize as security consultants scurried about in the heat. At least one vehicle got stuck on the ravaged Iraqi roads. The Americans once threatened to drive off if Iraqis who were smoking and using spark-prone pumps near the sea of oil did not pull their equipment back. The oil continued to bubble and ripple above the submerged breach in the pipeline, creating a deep canal of oil perhaps a quarter of a mile long and dozens of strangely shaped lakes — some vaguely in the shape of sand traps at golf courses — that seemed to go on forever.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/international/middleeast/20OIL.html?ex=1088308800&en=b5caa2ef70b65b8f&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[leftchick]

1. well that kills the happy happy all is great theme on cnn....

Why just yesterday they were reporting how great progress is going repairing the pipeline and it would surely be operating by Sunday.... :eyes:

[Spazito]

2. Interesting, this article describing, in effect, inside sabatage....

brought to mind the Jewish prisoners that were forced labour in the German factories did the same. One group is looked upon as heroes, the other as terrorists yet they both did the same thing, tried to stop an enemy.

[Wright Patman]

3. GOP gotta love

the pollution, though. This is the biggest mess since the Exxon Valdez.

And they'll probably say the caribou love wading in it. Wait a minute. Iraq doesn't have any caribou. Never mind. Camels then.

[uptown ruler]

4. we go for the oil

and spill it all over the desert...

nice.



Spread the Word
CausePimpingThePeopleAin’tEasy

[Robbien]

5. If I were the Iraqis, I would make sure these pipelines remain closed

until the US leaves the country. That is one sure way to stop the occupation.

The oil proceeds are going into a trust which can be spent by the US appointed government. Last week they approved a two billion payout to Halliburton/Bectal for Iraqi oil reconstruction.

[daleo]

6. This is telling:

"...workers at times moved so slowly that they seemed to be mirages. The pace frustrated American military and private engineers..."

I assume that they mean Iraqi workers were moving at a slow pace. If so, this seems like classic passive resistance. It drove imperialists crazy in the past too.

[tjwash]

7. Gee, that means gas prices will go up.

Wow. A fuckup that gives the oil companies an excuse to bend us all over and price gouge the living shit out of us. Putting aside the obvious snickering I will be doing at the next hummer I see, this is not really surprising, that it may possibly be an inside job. Any screwup that makes Shell a profit is due to happen again, and again, and again...

[Bozita]

8. Just in time for the upcoming 4th of July holiday

Why am I not surprised?

[cliss]

9. I've always said that the resistance fighters

would be much more effective if they would concentrate on the oil pipeline instead of attacking the troops. It's less dangerous; requires less skills. An Iraqi can drive out in the evening to the pipeline, set a delayed timing device and presto! You've got yourself another $1 million dollar repair job for Helliburton.

This would frustrate Cheney MUCH more than the loss of Americans. What does he care about the troops? Now ask him how he feels about losing 2 million barrels of oil in the sand.

Watch the tears start to well up in his foggy eyes. The frustration....the anger.....the $$losses$$........

If the Iraqis were to do this on a regular schedule, say every other day, they would defeat Cheney. They would run out of money to fix the damn pipelines and the neo-cons would have to throw in the towel.