Iraq tightens security at oilfields in the south

A senior Iraqi security official said that Iraq has enforced security measures and deployed more troops guarding oil infrastructures and crude oil fields to help protect this vital sector from militants who seized control of a number of towns and cities over the past week.

Brigadier Moussa Abdul Hassan, chief of the South Oil Police, deployed additional forces around oil fields, power plants, drilling sites and the headquarters of oil companies.

The militants defeated the Iraqi army and took control of large areas of the north of the country, threatening to destabilise the whole country.

Abdul Hassan told Reuters: “We have doubled security measures to keep oilfield operations and companies 100 per cent safe. Now we have more than 100,000 oil policemen on ground on high alert, ready to protect energy facilities in the south.”

Approximately 71 per cent of Iraq’s oil reserves lie in the south, with Basra’s refineries exporting 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Abdul Hassan added: “We formed a crisis cell to closely monitor the security of foreign oil companies and we assured companies … that their security is our top priority.”

The majority of Iraq’s oil fields lie in southern Iraq, which has a majority Shia population. The refineries have been developed by foreign companies which have been safe and relatively stable over the past two years.

Abdul Hassan said: “The checkpoints and protection posts were almost doubled and oil police members have been equipped with more powerful weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and rifles.”

Basra, the main city in the far south at the edge of the Gulf, has enormous strategic importance as the hub for oil exports accounting for over 95 per cent of government revenue.

Abdul Hassan denied rumours that foreign oil workers were being evacuated from Basra and said work is running smoothly at oilfields around the city.

Officials from the state-run South Oil Co. (SOC) also said operations in the southern oilfields are normal and none of the foreign companies have informed them of any evacuation plans.

“Basra is safe as always. Somebody is trying to muddy waters by saying foreigners are leaving,” said a senior SOC official.