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KIRKUK, Iraq -- The Iraqi interim government, in
conjunction with U.S. forces, is setting up three
dedicated oil security battalions to safeguard oil
infrastructure in and around the northern city of
Kirkuk.
In addition, the nascent Iraqi air force, based at a
U.S. airfield near Kirkuk, has begun patrolling the
area's three major pipelines using Jordanian-built
light aircraft equipped with a variety of sensors.
Kirkuk's oil accounts for 40 percent of Iraq's
reserves. Pipelines originating in Kirkuk carry
crude to Jordan and Turkey for refining and to
Baghdad for shipment to port facilities.
"Kirkuk has not been meeting its potential," said
Maj. Darren Blagburn, an intelligence officer with
the Idaho National Guard's 116th Regiment, which is
deployed to the city.
At peak capacity, Kirkuk has the ability to pump
about 1.2 million barrels a day. But terrorist
attacks on pipelines and equipment have pushed down
production to about 800,000 barrels per day.
Recently, militants exploded a bomb on one of only
two cranes used by the state-run Northern Oil
Company to seal breached large pipes. The attack
slowed the already weeklong process of repairing
damaged pipelines.
Iraq's Northern Oil Company's security has long been
handled by local tribal leaders, who often put
relatives in key positions regardless of
qualifications, the U.S. military says.
"These new [oil security brigades] will be key" to
changing that, said Maj. Fred Gilson, operations
officer of the 116th, which is training Iraqi
security forces in the Kirkuk area.
Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart said his soldiers -- most of
whom are reservists -- bring skills from their
civilian jobs that make them superior instructors. A
few, he said, are police trainers back home.
Gen. Gayhart said the effort is paying off. U.S.
forces are planning to turn over control of Kirkuk's
security, including oil facilities, to the Iraqis no
later than July.
In this ethnically mixed city, Kurdish peshmerga
militia patrol alongside police, Iraqi army and U.S.
forces.
It is not clear whether the oil security brigades
would be assigned to the regular Iraqi army or would
operate independently.
Col. Mahkmud Mohamed Kamal, executive officer of the
Iraqi army's 16th Brigade, one of two brigades in
the area, said most of his 2,000 soldiers are former
peshmerga who fought Iraqi forces in the 1980s and
'90s and bring a great deal of experience and
discipline to their new role.
If the oil security brigades are assigned to the
Iraqi army, they could serve with Col. Kamal's
troops.
Iraqi battalions typically have between 400 and 700
soldiers and are equipped with light weapons and
trucks.
The interim Iraqi government is counting on oil
revenue to fund reconstruction. An acute gasoline
shortage throughout Iraq would be eased by a more
reliable shipment of crude to refineries.
Also, a large propane plant in Kirkuk provides much
of Iraq's heating and cooking oil.
Three small pipes pumping crude to refineries in the
Iraqi city of Bayji have been operating without
interruption for three weeks as the result of
increased security, Maj. Blagburn said.
But some Kirkuk residents complain that even when
crude is flowing, their city sees too little refined
oil and too little oil revenue.
The issue of dividing oil revenue has become a key
obstacle in negotiations between the leading Shi'ite
coalition and the Kurds to form a national
government since the Jan. 30 elections.
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