Monday, September 23, 2013 7:29:09 AM
Bombings in Iraq Kill More Than 20 and Are Seen as Political
By DURAID ADNAN
Published: January 16, 2013
BAGHDAD — At least two car bombs shattered a building housing the local headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the restive city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 200, according to the police.
Stringer/Iraq/Reuters
Workers inspected a building damaged in a suicide bombing on Wednesday in Kirkuk, Iraq.
A third bomb at a nearby facility used by Kurdish security forces killed at least four more people, news agencies reported.
The suicide bombers’ main target appeared to have been the local office of Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. Kirkuk is about 180 miles north of Baghdad.
Tensions have increased recently in the city, where government soldiers squared off with Kurdish militias after Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki sought to consolidate his control over security there.
“This is a political explosion,” said Muhammed Kamal, the chief of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kirkuk. “Iraq is witnessing a political crisis that is being reflected on the security of the country and it’s all because of the prime minister.”
The attacks took place on Atlas Street, one of the busiest thoroughfares in central Kirkuk. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but car bombs have frequently been used by Sunni insurgents.
The bombings came a day after a member of the Iraqi Parliament was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Anbar Province. The lawmaker, Efan al-Essawi, was also the leader of a local council of the Awakening movement .. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/awakening_movement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier , an American-backed group of Sunni militias that switched sides to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Mr. Essawi had escaped earlier assassination attempts. In 2009, attackers placed a magnetic bomb on the armored car he was using when he was a candidate for Parliament, the first attack on a candidate as those elections approached.
Also on Wednesday, gunmen killed three policemen at a checkpoint northeast of the capital, according to the police, and two women were killed in an attack west of Baghdad.
A version of this article appeared in print on January 17, 2013, on page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: Bombings in Iraq Kill More Than 20 and Are Seen as Political.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/world/middleeast/bombings-kirkuk-iraq.html
~~~~~~~~
UPDATE 2-Iraq signs deal with BP to revive northern Kirkuk oilfield
Wed Sep 11, 2013 7:24am EDT
* Kurdistan has already rejected the deal as illegal
* Says no firm will be allowed to work in disputed areas
* BP spokesman says company happy with the agreement
By Meeyoung Cho and Peg Mackey
SEOUL/LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Baghdad signed a deal in early September for BP to revive Iraq's northern Kirkuk oilfield, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said on Wednesday, confirming a plan that Kurdistan has already rejected as illegal.
The agreement allows the British oil major - which already operates Iraq's biggest oilfield, Rumaila - to negotiate access to significant reserves in the north in return for helping Baghdad arrest a huge decline in output from Kirkuk.
"We signed a letter of intent about 10 days ago," Luaibi told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy ministers' meeting in Korea.
Reuters reported at the end of August that BP would work on the Baghdad-administered side of the border with Kurdistan, while the Iraqi Kurdish KAR group is developing a formation under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"We are pleased with this agreement," a BP spokesman said.
The deal faces opposition from the KRG, however, which rejected the planned pact as illegal when Baghdad revealed the preliminary arrangement with BP in January.
"The KRG's position on this issue remains unchanged," a spokesman from the KRG's Ministry of Natural Resources said on Wednesday in response to the BP deal.
"No company will be permitted to work in any part of the disputed territories including Kirkuk without formal approval and involvement of the KRG."
Re-developing Kirkuk is part of a wider push by Baghdad to rescue Iraq's oil sector from decades of war and neglect.
Oil provides the lion's share of Iraq's government revenues and foreign exchange earnings and the authorities have set a production target of 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd) for end-2013.
The increasingly influential OPEC member is currently producing 3.25 million bpd, Luaibi told reporters ahead of an Asian oil ministers meeting in Seoul.
Iraq hopes to add 175,000 bpd of capacity later this month with the start up of the Royal Dutch Shell-operated Majnoon field.
Luaibi said Majnoon was expected to start a 10-day test production phase on Sept. 20, after which the field was expected to ramp up towards full production.
Work since 2010 at Iraq's southern oilfields by the likes of BP, Exxon Mobil and Eni raised output by 600,000 bpd to 2.9 million bpd in 2012, turning Iraq into the world's fastest growing exporter.
Iraq is currently exporting 2.5 million bpd, said Luaibi, compared to an average of 2.58 million bpd in August.
Commenting on global oil prices, the Iraqi oil minister said about $100 per barrel was fair for consumers. Brent oil was at $111.62 at 1115 GMT.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/iraq-oil-idUSL3N0H709620130911
~~~~~~~~
Kirkuk strains Iraqi, Kurdish security forces
Middle East Aug 19, '13
PHOTO ESSAY Story and photographs by Derek Henry Flood
KIRKUK - As Iraq undergoes a painful fit of internecine violence not seen in terms of raw statistics since 2008, only glimpsing at the situation through the eyes of security forces offers real insight into what is happening on the ground.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-02-190813.html
By DURAID ADNAN
Published: January 16, 2013
BAGHDAD — At least two car bombs shattered a building housing the local headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the restive city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 200, according to the police.
Stringer/Iraq/Reuters
Workers inspected a building damaged in a suicide bombing on Wednesday in Kirkuk, Iraq.
A third bomb at a nearby facility used by Kurdish security forces killed at least four more people, news agencies reported.
The suicide bombers’ main target appeared to have been the local office of Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. Kirkuk is about 180 miles north of Baghdad.
Tensions have increased recently in the city, where government soldiers squared off with Kurdish militias after Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki sought to consolidate his control over security there.
“This is a political explosion,” said Muhammed Kamal, the chief of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kirkuk. “Iraq is witnessing a political crisis that is being reflected on the security of the country and it’s all because of the prime minister.”
The attacks took place on Atlas Street, one of the busiest thoroughfares in central Kirkuk. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but car bombs have frequently been used by Sunni insurgents.
The bombings came a day after a member of the Iraqi Parliament was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Anbar Province. The lawmaker, Efan al-Essawi, was also the leader of a local council of the Awakening movement .. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/awakening_movement/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier , an American-backed group of Sunni militias that switched sides to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Mr. Essawi had escaped earlier assassination attempts. In 2009, attackers placed a magnetic bomb on the armored car he was using when he was a candidate for Parliament, the first attack on a candidate as those elections approached.
Also on Wednesday, gunmen killed three policemen at a checkpoint northeast of the capital, according to the police, and two women were killed in an attack west of Baghdad.
A version of this article appeared in print on January 17, 2013, on page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: Bombings in Iraq Kill More Than 20 and Are Seen as Political.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/world/middleeast/bombings-kirkuk-iraq.html
~~~~~~~~
UPDATE 2-Iraq signs deal with BP to revive northern Kirkuk oilfield
Wed Sep 11, 2013 7:24am EDT
* Kurdistan has already rejected the deal as illegal
* Says no firm will be allowed to work in disputed areas
* BP spokesman says company happy with the agreement
By Meeyoung Cho and Peg Mackey
SEOUL/LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Baghdad signed a deal in early September for BP to revive Iraq's northern Kirkuk oilfield, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said on Wednesday, confirming a plan that Kurdistan has already rejected as illegal.
The agreement allows the British oil major - which already operates Iraq's biggest oilfield, Rumaila - to negotiate access to significant reserves in the north in return for helping Baghdad arrest a huge decline in output from Kirkuk.
"We signed a letter of intent about 10 days ago," Luaibi told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy ministers' meeting in Korea.
Reuters reported at the end of August that BP would work on the Baghdad-administered side of the border with Kurdistan, while the Iraqi Kurdish KAR group is developing a formation under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"We are pleased with this agreement," a BP spokesman said.
The deal faces opposition from the KRG, however, which rejected the planned pact as illegal when Baghdad revealed the preliminary arrangement with BP in January.
"The KRG's position on this issue remains unchanged," a spokesman from the KRG's Ministry of Natural Resources said on Wednesday in response to the BP deal.
"No company will be permitted to work in any part of the disputed territories including Kirkuk without formal approval and involvement of the KRG."
Re-developing Kirkuk is part of a wider push by Baghdad to rescue Iraq's oil sector from decades of war and neglect.
Oil provides the lion's share of Iraq's government revenues and foreign exchange earnings and the authorities have set a production target of 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd) for end-2013.
The increasingly influential OPEC member is currently producing 3.25 million bpd, Luaibi told reporters ahead of an Asian oil ministers meeting in Seoul.
Iraq hopes to add 175,000 bpd of capacity later this month with the start up of the Royal Dutch Shell-operated Majnoon field.
Luaibi said Majnoon was expected to start a 10-day test production phase on Sept. 20, after which the field was expected to ramp up towards full production.
Work since 2010 at Iraq's southern oilfields by the likes of BP, Exxon Mobil and Eni raised output by 600,000 bpd to 2.9 million bpd in 2012, turning Iraq into the world's fastest growing exporter.
Iraq is currently exporting 2.5 million bpd, said Luaibi, compared to an average of 2.58 million bpd in August.
Commenting on global oil prices, the Iraqi oil minister said about $100 per barrel was fair for consumers. Brent oil was at $111.62 at 1115 GMT.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/iraq-oil-idUSL3N0H709620130911
~~~~~~~~
Kirkuk strains Iraqi, Kurdish security forces
Middle East Aug 19, '13
PHOTO ESSAY Story and photographs by Derek Henry Flood
KIRKUK - As Iraq undergoes a painful fit of internecine violence not seen in terms of raw statistics since 2008, only glimpsing at the situation through the eyes of security forces offers real insight into what is happening on the ground.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-02-190813.html
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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