29 April 2003
Iraq’s Baiji refinery — the biggest and newest of the country’s three main refineries — is being protected by members of the nearby Qaissi tribe.
For the 5,000 workers at the Baiji refinery, 200 kilometers north of Baghdad, the first real contacts with US soldiers have yet to come. Hundreds of US army trucks can been seen moving north on the road from Baghdad to Mosul, but the forces have not deployed in the vicinity of the refinery.
US forces — which have been issuing optimistic statements about jumpstarting the refineries to restore some life back into the Iraqi economy and restoring production from northern oil fields — appear to be concentrating elsewhere.
The Baiji refinery has been idle for two weeks. The other main plants, at Daura and Basrah, have been protected by the US and UK armies since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime almost three weeks ago.
Partial runs at the southern Basrah refinery have now restarted. Daura, the only refinery previously functioning, has had to slash runs to 23,000 barrels per day, from 43,000 b/d last week, because of limited draws on fuel oil by battered power plants in Baghdad and a lack of storage capacity.
At the main power stations in Baghdad, Daura and South Baghdad, only one unit out of four is functioning at each, and the capital is still plunged into darkness at night.
“We had no break-ins and we had no looting in our refinery,” said an official at the Baiji refinery, surrounded by a dozen young men who have taken charge of questioning every visitor to the refinery and holding them until clearance is issued by the director general.
Since a power outage following the fall of Kirkuk and Mosul in the north, a small unit at Baiji has been processing 10,000 b/d of crude from storage and producing middle distillates and kerosene, as well as supplying gasoline filling stations from storage that is about to run out.
“We are ready to restart the refinery as soon as the power supply stabilizes,” said the official. Sporadic power outages remain a major problem for the 290,000 b/d modern refinery, which was built in 1986.
After power, the refinery’s main challenge is crude supply. North Oil Co. (NOC) in Kirkuk is able to supply both Baiji and Daura with crude from storage for up to three weeks, pending the resumption of steady production from the Kirkuk, Jambur and Bai Hassan fields.
(The US military said Friday that limited flows had started from Jambur.)
Overground crude pipelines were also damaged during heavy bombing of the nearby town of Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein.
An old crude pipeline, which runs underground, could serve as a substitute until the main lines are fixed. It is able to supply Baiji with 70,000 b/d — enough for one crude unit — and the Daura refinery with 45,000 b/d.
With bridges over the River Tigris bombed, and Baiji sitting on the western bank, refinery officials say it would take weeks before NOC is able to carry out repair work.
In the meantime, with the telecommunications network across Iraq down, coordination between Baiji and NOC is limited.
At some facilities, the US Army Corps of Engineers, which is coordinating between Iraqi oil officials and the military, has supplied satellite phones to directors to facilitate coordination. However, most oil production facilities still lack means of contact with headquarters, other than messengers.
With exports of products to Jordan and Turkey suspended, the start-up at Baiji, the main supplier of fuel oil to both countries before the start of war in March, is expected to be limited initially to one or two crude units, with a capacity of 70,000 b/d each.
By Ruba Husari, Baiji
(Published in International Oil Daily April 29, 2003)