Iraq tries to increase strategic oil storage, Minister says

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq is striving nowadays to increase its strategic storage of oil products, through pumping large quantities of such products from southern Iraq ’s Shueiba Oil Refinery to Baghdad , Oil Minister, Abdul-Kerim Lueiby said.   “Such increase is part of measures taken by our Ministry to foil enemy attempts to achieve their goals, through attacking the Ministry’s installations, aimed at paralyzing its activity and creating a shortage in oil-products,” Minister Lueiby told IraqiNews.com news agency, in an exclusive statement on Tuesday.   The Minister pointed out that eight mobile oil tankers, carrying oil products have been attacked on Sunday and Saturday in different parts of the country, that took place with other explosions, in order to undermine the Ministry’s attempts to satisfy the demands of citizens of oil products and to undermine   the oil network.   “Despite the major damage, caused to the North Oil Refinery in Beiji ( Salahaddin Province ) by the recent terrorist aggression, the Ministry shall surprise everybody with its quick repairs to restore the activity of the Refinery,” the Minister said.   He pointed out that a number of refining units in Salahaddin Refinery of Beiji’s “North” Refinery, where maintenance works would take place nowadays, would restore their activity soon to satisfy the country’s needs for oil products from Beiji’s Refinery.   Noteworthy is that Salahaddin Refinery would be commissioned in the forthcoming few days, with a daily production capacity of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd), whilst the production of the “North” Refinery, now at halt, was 150,000 bpd.   RT / SKH   477