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| Iraq |
| Turkey to Fill Kurdish Oil Shortage |
| 2014-06-23 |
| [AnNahar] Turkey said Saturday it will provide fuel to Iraq's Kurdistan region to make up for a shortage caused by a murderous Moslem offensive that has shut down the country's biggest oil refinery. Militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) have seized a vast swathe of territory in northern Iraq since overrunning the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... on June 10. As a result of the fighting, the Baiji refinery in Salaheddin province has been shut down and the supply route to Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region cut off. The fuel shortage has caused long queues to form at gas stations in Kurdish cities. Despite coming under under heavy attack from ISIL in recent days, Iraqi government forces still control the Baiji refinery. But the festivities caused several storage tanks to catch fire, sending jitters through international energy markets. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Saturday the shutdown of the refinery has created a daily requirement in Iraqi Kurdistan of 4,000 tonnes of gasoline. "We have received a request that Turkey meet this need," Yildiz said. Yildiz said Turkey's state-owned Tupras refinery could meet northern Iraq's shortage, but warned that shipping the fuel by tanker would lead to long queues at border crossings. Iraq, including Iraqi Kurdistan, is the second-biggest producer of oil among OPEC countries, but the recent unrest has sparked fears its exports could be hit. Turkey was criticized by the central government in Storied Baghdad when it started to facilitate the transfer of oil pumped from Iraqi Kurdistan to world markets last month. Storied Baghdad, which insists it has the sole right to develop and export the country's natural resources, has lodged an arbitration case against Ankara, accusing the government of being "driven by greed". Fuel shortages in Iraqi Kurdistan to last at least another week Fuel shortages in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region will last for at least another week, government officials said on Sunday, as sweeping advances by Sunni Moslem bully boyz further south put a heavy strain on supply lines. An influx of displaced families, an attack by the bully boyz of the Islamic State of Syria and al Shams on Iraq's largest refinery and fuel smuggling into bad boy-controlled towns have all hit supplies, though government officials say the situation is slowly easing. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 Recently, Turkish PM Erdogan has begun to use the word "Kurdistan" in his conversation. This is a seachange. He is perfectly aware that the oil card can be played by energy poor Turkey and energy rich Iraqi Kurdistan to the benefit of both. |
| Posted by: Muggsy White8658 2014-06-23 09:11 |
| #5 Thanks Shipman. Working theory is as the Sunni Shiite factions wear each other down, and the semi-autonomous Kurdish state (with cohesive military) and backed by oil funding, now in control of Kirkuk (which was theirs before Sadam intervened), will be a key state and regional player very soon. |
| Posted by: Incredulous 2014-06-23 06:30 |
| #4 A sort of mitigation of damages then Incredulous? I like it. A junior sized Kurdistan that owes Turkey could work for both. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-06-23 05:46 |
| #3 I was wondering the same thing. Initially thought it might be to establish some goodwill with the Kurds in anticipation of accessing the proximal oil reserves, but given the history with Abdullah Ocolan PKK etc, the significant Kurdish populations in Turkey/Iran, I now think the Turkish Government is trying to placate those populations in the event total Kurdish independence is established in Iraq, having regional influence over the others. |
| Posted by: Incredulous 2014-06-23 05:23 |
| #2 Thinking about it some more, maybe Turkey wants a buffer state? |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-06-23 00:40 |
| #1 Something doesn't add up. Why is Turkey being so nice? Yes, they are getting Crude from the Kurds and maybe that is all it is; barter. |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-06-23 00:40 |