Oil fires cast black cloud over Iraqi town retaken from Islamic State

[thackney]

Oil fires cast black cloud over Iraqi town retaken from Islamic State
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-oil-idUSKCN1150UR
Aug 30, 2016

It gets darker earlier these days in the northern Iraqi town of Qayyara, which Islamic State militants abandoned about a week ago after setting fire to many of the region's oil wells.

Smoke billowing into the sky during a Reuters visit on Monday blotted out the sun in central districts hours before nightfall, producing an apocalyptic scene in this desert settlement which lacks electricity amid 49 degree Celsius (120°F) temperatures.

The Iraqi military's recapture of Qayyara, along with a nearby airbase in July, is the latest and most significant advance in a U.S.-backed push to Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control anywhere in its self-proclaimed caliphate.

Baghdad wants to retake Mosul before the end of the year, which it says will effectively end the militants' presence in Iraq more than two years after they seized a third of its territory. Some officials from countries in the U.S.-led coalition supporting the Iraqi forces have said that timeline may be too ambitious.

Yet the loss of Qayyara certainly dealt a blow to Islamic State, which had extracted oil from some 60 wells and sold it to help finance its activities.

Islamic State used to ship at least 50 tanker truckloads a day from Qayyara and nearby Najma oilfields to neighboring Syria. A sign remains on the main road announcing prices of crude in places like the Syrian city of Aleppo, 550 km (340 miles) west of Qayyara.

Rudimentary refineries once used to refine oil for local consumption have been abandoned on the side of the road leading east out of the town.

The smell of petrol now overwhelms the area, wind carrying the smoke from well fires into the town center. More than a few minutes in the area leaves one's throat burning, and children walking the streets have quickly developed coughs.

Abdel Aziz Saleh, a 25-year-old Qayyara resident, said he wants Baghdad to put out the fires as soon as possible....

[thackney]

Iraq's Qayyara oil fields won't return to production before Mosul retaken - spokesman
http://news.trust.org/item/20160830093929-blctj/
30 August 2016

Iraq doesn't expect to resume production from the northern Qayyara oil region before the capture of nearby Mosul from Islamic State, an oil ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

The region's two main fields, Qayyara and Najma, used to produce up to 30,000 barrels per day of heavy crude before it fell under control of the ultra-hardline militants two years ago. It has also a small refinery to process some local oil.

"The rehabilitation process cannot resume unless the security situation improves with the conclusion of the battle for Mosul" some 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Qayyara, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters.

The Iraqi army took Qayyara back last week and oil ministry services started putting out fires at wells caused by insurgents as a tactic to escape air surveillance and hamper the progression of Iraqi forces.

The oil ministry also dug trenches to prevent oil spills from reaching the Tigris river, Jihad said. "They were contained," he added....