Iraqi Forces Retake Baiji Oil Refinery From Islamic State: U.S.

Source: Bloomberg

by David Lerman
2:16 PM EDT
April 19, 2015

Iraqi security forces have regained full control of the Baiji oil refinery after clearing out remaining Islamic State fighters, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The recapture of the facility in northern Iraq means the radical Sunni Islamic State organization can’t generate oil revenue in Iraq, although it also holds land in neighboring Syria.

“Once the Iraqis have full control of Baiji, they will control all of their oil infrastructure, both north and south, and deny ISIL the ability to generate revenue through oil,” Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference Thursday. ISIL is an acronym for Islamic State.

Iraq’s oil production could increase to as much as 7 million barrels a day by 2020, from about 4 million barrels now, the country’s oil minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-19/iraqi-forces-retake-baiji-oil-refinery-from-islamic-state-u-s-