Basra Fighting Could Disrupt Oil Supplies

The fighting in Basra could soon affect Iraq’s oil supplies. Oil production and exports from Iraq’s southern oilfields could be disrupted in three days if workers cannot reach their offices due to fighting in Basra.

“If the military operations continue for three more days, the oil workers will not be able to continue their work and this is going to definitely affect oil production and exports,” said an official from the Southern Oil Company.

Oil workers in the Basra province work 24-hour shifts and have not been replaced since Tuesday, the oil company official told Reuters. “The workers are now going through a very hard time with shortages of food, and are tired from the heat because they are not being replaced,” he said.

Iraq receives the bulk of its revenues from its southern oilfields.