Attacks on Iraqi pipelines, oil installations, and oil personnel:

2003
1. June 12 — attack along the 600 mile (960km) pipeline that carries crude oil from Iraq's northern fields near Kirkuk to Turkey's port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea
2. June 19 — explosion in Bayji refinery complex about 125 miles (200km) north of Baghdad
3. June 22 — explosion in natural gas line near Hit, a city about 95 miles (152 km) northwest of Baghdad
4. June 23 - gas pipeline explosion outside the town of Abidiyah Gaarbiga, near the Syrian border in western Iraq
5. June 24 — explosion near Barwanah pipeline carries crude to al-Dawrah refinery in Baghdad
6. June 26 — explosion near Al-Fatha near the River Tigris
7. July 29 — attack on pipeline near Basra
8. July 31 - saboteurs blew up part of a pipeline near Bayji
9. August 12 — attack near al-Taji near Baghdad
10. August 15 - explosion near Bayji
11. August 16 - explosion near Bayji
12. September 8 — attack on pipeline from the Jabour oil field 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Kirkuk to the main pipeline that originates there
13. September 18 - attack on pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan
14. October 11 - attack on pipeline from Zab to Kirkuk
15. October 16 - pipeline explosion near the city of Hadeetha, 125 miles (200 km) northwest of Baghdad
16. October 23 - explosion near natural gas pipeline 30 miles (48 km) south of Mosul
17. October 23 - bombing attack on an oil pipeline 150 miles (240 km) north of Baghdad
18. November 1 - explosion at oil pipeline about 9 miles (15 km) north of Tikrit
19. November 4 - explosion at a pipeline plant in Zumar, 38 miles (60 km) northwest of Mosul
20. November 10 - Mohammed al-Zibari, distribution manager for the Oil Distribution Company was shot and wounded in the northern city of Mosul in what seems to be the first assassination attempt on officials from an Iraqi oil firm. Zibari's son was killed in the attack. Zibari told Reuters, "Three people opened fire with AK-47s. My driver saw them and so did my bodyguard," adding "Definitely foreign regime loyalists are responsible for this. I have no personal enemies, no tribal or family problems, and I'm not a member of any political party."
21. November 17 - blast 1.2 miles (2 km) east of the Bayji refinery, at a pipeline taking fuel oil to the Daura refinery, in the southern suburb of Baghdad. Resulting damage on the power supply line to the 300,000 barrels per day Bayji refinery, located 156 miles (250 km) north of Baghdad, forced a 2 day electricity shutdown.
22. November 18 - explosion on oil pipeline in the region of Mashruh al-Therthar, south-west of the city of Samarra. The feeds the Daura refineries in Baghdad.
23. November 22 - Abdel Salam Qanbar, an Iraqi police colonel in charge of security for oil installations in the northern city of Mosul was shot and killed by unknown attackers in a vehicle.
24. November 22 - club inside the Iraqi Northern Oil Company compound in Kirkuk, 150 miles (240 km) north of Baghdad, was hit during the night by mortar shells wounding three foreign nationals.
25. November 23 - blast on a pipeline transporting gas from the Jambur oil field to the Bayji refinery caused fire so huge its glow at night is visible from Kirkuk, 19 miles (30 km) north of Jambur.
26. November 26 - oil pipeline linking oilfields in northern Iraq to the Bayji refinery on fire near the village of Sharqat, about 30 miles (48 km) north of Bayji.
27. December 9 - explosion on a gas pipeline that runs from Kirkuk to a bottled gas factory north of Baghdad.
28. December 10 - explosion at point 84 miles (135 km) west of Kirkuk on oil pipeline linking the Bayji and Daura refineries.
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29. December 19 - blaze on a pipeline south of Baghdad causing significant leakage.
30. December 20 - rocket-propelled grenades hit storage tanks in southern Baghdad on Saturday; resulting fires burned about 2.6 million gallons of gasoline.
31. December 20 - rocket-propelled grenades cause pipeline explosion in the al-Mashahda area 15 miles (24 km) north of Baghdad.
32. December 21 - explosion on pipeline in the al-Mashahda region, 30 miles (50 km) north Baghdad.
33. December 21 - pumping station near Bayji refinery attacked with mortars.
34. December 22 - explosion at 3:30 pm (1230 GMT) in Riad about 28 miles (45 km) west of Kirkuk, on fuel pipeline between Kirkuk's oilfields and Iraq's biggest refinery in Bayji, parallel to the crucial pipeline between Kirkuk and the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
35. December 22 - fire on pipeline supplying Bayji refinery with crude from the oil fields of Kirkuk at point about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of refinery.

2004
36. January 7 - explosion holes pipeline connecting oil fields to a pumping station in the area around Hassiba, 85 miles (135 km) west of Kirkuk, Northern Oil Company director general Adel Kazzaz said "The fuel line was used for domestic market needs and filling up tankers that export crude."
37. January 30 - explosion on pipeline carrying crude oil from Kirkuk to Bayji refinery.
38. February 22 - explosion and fire on the Kirkuk-Baghdad-Basra pipeline near Al-Hare, a small town west of Karbala, about 70 miles (110 km) south of Baghdad. This is reported to be the first attack against a pipeline in southern Iraq since the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
39. February 26 - explosion apparently caused by homemade bomb thrown under oil and gas pipes damaged part of an oil pipeline about 60 miles (96 km) north of Baghdad.
40. March 2 - large explosion on oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk causing a huge fire but no casualties. The blast hit the main oil line leading to the Bayji refinery 125 miles (200 km) north of Baghdad igniting a huge fire police chief Turhan Yussef said. "The explosion happened at 11.15am (0615 AEDT). An explosive device was placed under the pipeline at Al-Riad, 21 miles (35 km) west of Kirkuk," he said.
41. March 10 - fire on an oil pipeline south of Baghdad, leading from southern fields to the Daura refinery outside Baghdad. Firefighter Saleh Jabbar said it appeared to be the result of sabotage.
42. March 12 - oil pipeline blown up west of Tikrit on Friday, resulting in a fire on the line. The pipeline links northern oil fields in Kirkuk with the Daura refinery on the edge of Baghdad.
43. March 24 - Northern Oil Company oil well in the Khabaz area, about 55 miles (88 km) west of Kirkuk, was bombed at night. The resulting fire was extinguished late the following day. Gen. Mohammed Amin, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps chief in Kirkuk said the well was not being tapped at the time of the blast nor was it closely guarded. "This is a terrorist act. This is the first time an oil well has come under attack in Kirkuk." Amin said.
44. March 25 - blast on a main oil well in northern Iraq that feeds exports through Turkey. Adel Qazzaz, director-general of the Northern Iraqi Company (NOC) said, "The explosion occurred at 3:30 pm (1230 GMT) because of an explosive charge planted by unknown individuals inside the well, located 47 miles (75 km) west of Kirkuk." He added, "It inflicted massive damage in the well, and firefighters are having a hard time extinguishing it because the explosion occurred inside the well and not in the pipelines." Qazzaz said firemen would need two days to put out the fire, and noted "the well is a principal producer for oil exports through the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline and for covering local market demands."
45. March 26 - pipeline in the southern Basra oil facilities on fire, said an official from Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization. Iraqi guards on duty at Shuaiba, near the southern city of Basra, said saboteurs ignited crude oil that leaked from the pipeline. A British military spokesman disagreed with the report, saying "It was not the result of an explosion. We understand that a pipeline valve failed and fire broke out from the resultant spillage."
46. April 4 - attack on oil pipeline in southern Iraq which links Basra with Faw port on the Persian Gulf. ruptured it and set the oil ablaze.
47. April 8 - mortar round hit natural gas tank and another hit a pipeline at a plant north of Kirkuk operated by the Northern Iraqi Company (NOC) Jumaa Ahmad, head of the fire fighting brigade, said.
48. April 21 - bombing on pipeline north of Baghdad.
49. April 24 - suicide bombers in three boats blew themselves up in and around the Basra terminal zone, one of the most heavily guarded facilities of its kind in the world.
50. May 8 - bomb 35 miles (56 km) south of Basra damaged an 18-foot section of one of two pipelines running from Basra to the Faw peninsula on the Gulf. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Spokesman Steve Wright said oil exports from the Basra and Khor al-Amaya offshore southern terminals, through which about 90% of Iraq's oil exports flow, were stopped as a result: "Pumping has stopped. They attacked in the vicinity where the manifold goes into the sea." According to Iraqi officials exports were still flowing from Basra albeit at a reduced rate of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) compared with 1.6 million bpd prior to the attack as oil from the damaged pipeline is flowing through the parallel pipeline. Ali Nasr al-Rubaie, director of the main port terminal said exports had been halved following the attack: "We have dropped from an average of 80,000 barrels per hour to 40,000 barrels per hour."
51. May 8 - attack on oil pipeline taking crude northwards from the country’s southern oilfields at point 25 miles (40 km) south of Baghdad, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said on Saturday, noting it would take several days to start pumping oil again.
52. May 9 - blast near a strategic oil pipeline network linking north and south Iraq, by the town of Musayyib, about 56 miles (90 km) south of Baghdad. Unclear what caused the explosion or whether the pipeline itself was damaged.
53. May 13 - rocket landed in a gas plant at the Daura oil refinery in Baghdad, injured a worker and caused a fire.
54. May 24 - explosion badly damaged the Northern pipeline at around 7pm local time on a section between the Kirkuk oilfields and the Dibis pumping installations. A security official of Iraq's Northern Oil Company, Juma Ahmad, said pumping had to be stopped to fight the fire. Another security official for Northern Oil, Issam Muhammad, said while the fire had been put out it would take 12 days to repair the damage.

Source: UN

Also see:
Fencing in looters and saboteurs in Iraq: Too many people in and outside of Iraq are hoping to deny Iraq a better future through a campaign of sabotage and plunder of the country's neglected oil facilities. The problem, and possible solutions.

Minding Its Business: Saudi Arabia, which has demonstrated its willingness to use its vast oil reserves as a foreign policy tool, has not acted to aid U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq.
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