Northern Iraq’s oil output halted due to explosion

According to Iraqi officials, Iraqi production halted on last Wednesday due to explosion at two oil wells near territory controlled by Daesh in northern Iraq.

It was not immediately clear who had laid the charges at Khabbaz oilfield, 20 kilometres southwest of Kirkuk, in a region under control of the Kurdish peshmerga forces. The field has a maximum production capacity of 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) but was producing around 10,000 bpd before the attack, said officials from the state-run North Oil Company that operates the reservoir.

According to sources, police had tried dismantling un-detonated explosives found at a third oil well. The Khabbaz field was damaged last year after an attack by Daesh, which seized a third of the Opec producer’s territory in 2014, including at least four small oilfields.
The militants have since been pushed back in some areas by an array of Iraqi forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes. A fire broke out last month at a mothballed natural gas production well at Khabbaz.