[bratticus]

Saboteurs hit disused Iraq oil pipeline
AFP / Feb 18, 2011

"An explosive device damaged an oil pipeline near the village of Dinaya on Thursday at 4 am (0100 GMT)," Tamimi told AFP, adding that the pipeline linking the Naft Khana field to the Dora refinery in south Baghdad had been closed since 2003.

[bratticus]

Pipeline bombed as protests escalate
By Ben Van Heuvelen of Iraq Oil Report / February 17, 2011

A pre-dawn bombing Thursday of a pipeline that feeds Iraq’s second-largest refinery spilled thousands of barrels of crude oil into a village in still-deadly Diyala province.

[bratticus]

I'm beginning to realize how inconsistent stories about what happens in the Middle East are--a pipeline so disused that it spills oil all over the place?

[dolanbaker]

Could just be a section of pipe in a valley between two pumping stations full of "stagnant" oil, or it's not disused!

[papa moose]

It's either misleading or poor reporting.
A pipeline that is being shut down for 8 years would no be left full of crude.
For one thing someone had to pay to get that crude out of the ground so why just leave it to rot in the pipe?
Secondly crude is pretty nasty stuff, leaving it sitting in the pipeline will not be good for the pipe itself.

Or perhaps both articles are right? perhaps the CIA is "not" pumping oil thru this line?

[bratticus]

http://www.iags.org/iraqpipelinewatch.htm

[bratticus]

Gunmen Attack Iraq’s Largest Oil Refinery
Jack Healy / New York TImes / Feb 24, 2011

... skip ...

According to officials from the refinery and provincial government, gunmen armed with pistols with noise suppressors broke into the refinery at about 4:30 a.m. and attacked the few security guards and engineers who had been working overnight. They then planted eight bombs inside and outside, blowing up a pipeline.

... skip ...

After the American invasion in 2003, millions and millions of dollars in fuel from the refinery was funneled onto the black market, some of it into the hands of militants. In 2008, an American captain stationed at Baiji called the illegal flow of oil the “money pit of the insurgency.”

Earlier this month, a pipeline north of Baghdad was bombed, disrupting production at the Dora refinery in Baghdad.

[Sixstrings]

BAGHDAD - A government spokesman says a bomb has hit Iraq's largest oil pipeline, halting exports to Turkey in an insurgent strike that could lead to millions of dollars in losses.

Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said gunmen planted the bomb on the Beiji pipeline Wednesday evening near the town of Shurqat, 155 miles (250 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

Jihad said the blast stopped the oil from being pumped, and the pipeline would be shut down for at least three days for repairs. He said the pipeline generally pumps about 400,000 barrels of oil each day.

But Jihad downplayed concerns, saying there are enough Iraqi oil reserves stored in Turkey to prevent massive losses. CNBC

Well not megadoom, it's a damaged pipline and will be fixed within days plus they have some oil stored up at the other end of the pipe in Turkey.

But still.. troubled times we're in, and we can see what the future of peak oil will look like. It won't be a simple story of shortage, but rather exacerbated by geopolitical trouble -- dictators turning their oil fields into scorched earth, insurgents attacking distribution, food riots and revolutions.

[seahorse3]

Agreed

[Adelaidewonderer]

BAGHDAD - A government spokesman says a bomb has hit Iraq's largest oil pipeline, halting exports to Turkey in an insurgent strike that could lead to millions of dollars in losses.

Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said gunmen planted the bomb on the Beiji pipeline Wednesday evening near the town of Shurqat, 155 miles (250 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

Jihad said the blast stopped the oil from being pumped, and the pipeline would be shut down for at least three days for repairs.

He said the pipeline generally pumps about 400,000 barrels of oil each day.

But Jihad downplayed concerns, saying there are enough Iraqi oil reserves stored in Turkey to prevent massive losses.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41991561

Well not megadoom, it's a damaged pipline and will be fixed within days plus they have some oil stored up at the other end of the pipe in Turkey.

But still.. troubled times we're in, and we can see what the future of peak oil will look like. It won't be a simple story of shortage, but rather exacerbated by geopolitical trouble -- dictators turning their oil fields into scorched earth, insurgents attacking distribution, food riots and revolutions.

But it does seem to a little bit of a trend of late. Those pesky little anrachists like the Taliban and Al Queada know that the best way to bring harm to their opponents, is to disrupt the supply of oil. Why risk your own men going into a fight to try and kill a US soldier (who will just get replaced), when you can plant a few bombs, drive the oil price up by $20 a barrel, and add $7 million a day to the US's military costs each day (or $400 million to the US's economy a day).

Its never going to be possible to protect the tens of thousands of kilomteres of oil pipelines or numerous refineries dotted around the middle east. Increase the price of Fuel in downtown US, and taxpayers arent going to be want to be paying taxes to support a war half a world away.

[Roy]

Increase the price of Fuel in downtown US, and taxpayers aren't going to be want to be paying taxes to support a war half a world away.

I wish you were right. Most Americans are too tv addled and absorbed in pop culture to even CARE about the wars we're already involved in.

And the USGov will just print the money needed and the populace will just sleepwalk and worry about Charlie Sheen and sports news.

[ritter]

Most Americans are too tv addled and absorbed in pop culture to even CARE about the wars we're already involved in.

And the USGov will just print the money needed and the populace will just sleepwalk and worry about Charlie Sheen and sports news.

Sad but true.

[ian807]

As political chaos spreads from country to country in the middle east, and the military and police are focused on maintaining order rather than protecting oil infrastructure, Al Quaeda and sympathizers will take the obvious approach of defeating the western powers through economic means by choking off oil supplies. It's a relatively cheap and easy approach. I'm frankly surprised it hasn't already been tried more often on oil tankers and other pipelines.

And interesting example of how we can have severe oil shortages while still having plenty of oil.

And if the supply chain to get the oil breaks down (tankers, pipelines, derricks, trucks, gas stations...), how long would it take us to get it back?

[bratticus]

And the USGov will just print the money

Four billion cut here, six billion cut there and pretty soon you're talking some money cut.

[b]Three-Week Extension Seen for Spending Bill
Janet Hook / WSJ / Mar 10, 2011

The House has passed a bill that would cut $61 billion from 2010 levels; $4 billion of that has already been enacted. ... The new, short-term measure through April 8 would likely make additional cuts in spending from last year's levels at a rate of $2 billion a week.

$2 billion times three weeks for another $6 billion in cuts.

$4 billion already for the Mar 4 - 18 plus $6 more = $10 billion in cuts.

So much for printing money.