Oil near 9-month high as Iraq battles for refinery
Source: AP-Excite
HONG KONG (AP) The price of oil was little changed with global crude a near nine-month high Friday, following days of fighting between Iraqi soldiers and Islamic militants for control of the country's biggest refinery.
Iraq's government was desperately trying to hold off the extremists at the Beiji oil refinery and by late Thursday the two sides held different parts of the refinery, which extends over several square kilometers of desert some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad.
The facility has a capacity of 320,000 barrels a day, according to Platts, accounting for a quarter of Iraq's refining capacity. While all its output is used domestically, a prolonged shutdown could force the energy producer to import oil products to keep up with the country's needs, cutting into global supplies.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140620/oil-prices-3dca2139d2.html
Billy Budd
(310 posts)SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)Most of the oil fields are located in the deep south of Iraq...ISIS will NEVER get there because it is not Sunni territory...The prices will be artificially inflated using this crisis to make BILLIONS!! USA! USA! USA!!
bemildred
(90,061 posts)Iraqi troops battling for control of the vital Baiji oil refinery are outnumbered, surrounded and trapped inside the facility, U.S. source told ABC News.
The battle for the refinery was in its fourth day today, although fighters for the radical Islamic militia ISIS have apparently taken control of much of the facility and are willing to keep the government forces isolated until they run out of food and ammunition, sources said.
"There is very little the Iraqi government can do to save or liberate those guys," a U.S. official told ABC News.
The loss of the Baiji refinery, located 130 miles north of the capital Baghdad, would be a serious blow to the government of President Nouri al-Maliki. After rapidly sweeping through the northern city Mosul and driving south past Tikrit last week, ISIS - which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - moved to expand their reach by attacking Baiji.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/troops-surrounded-trapped-iraqs-key-refinery-sources-abc/story?id=24231981
bemildred
(90,061 posts)BEIRUT, June 20 (Reuters) - Fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Friday captured key towns in eastern Syria adjoining territory the al Qaeda splinter group has seized in Iraq, a monitoring organisation said.
The Islamists, whose stated aim is to create a strict Islamic state straddling national borders, took over the towns of Muhassan, Albulil and Albuomar, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
ISIL, which opposes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has also been fighting rival rebel groups in Deir al-Zor, an oil-producing eastern province of Syria devastated by the three-year-old civil war.
The newly captured towns are in an area running along the Euphrates River that links Syria and Iraq and are significant because they are close to Deir al-Zor's military airport and the Syrian city of al-Mayadin, the Observatory's Rami Abdurrahman said.
http://www.trust.org/item/20140620154613-gxgn8/
bemildred
(90,061 posts)MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken by phone to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, expressing Moscows support for his action against the militant offensive.
The Kremlin said in a statement that al-Maliki informed Putin on Friday about his governments steps to combat the terrorist groups in the north of the country. It added that the insurgency threatens security of the entire region.
Putin confirmed Russias full support for the Iraqi governments action to quickly free the territory of the republic from terrorists, the Kremlin said, adding that Putin and al-Maliki also discussed bilateral cooperation.
Putins expression of support for the embattled Iraqi prime minister comes as al-Malikis rivals have mounted a campaign to force him out of office, with some angling for support from Western backers and regional heavyweights.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/putin-speaks-to-iraqi-pm-expresses-support/2014/06/20/97651afa-f897-11e3-af55-076a4c5f20a0_story.html