Oil shortages hit Iraq with onset of summer heat

[bemildred]

BAGHDAD - As Iraq's brutal summer heat sends temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), a dire shortage of petroleum products is damaging the economy and cutting electricity supplies in Baghdad to new lows.

The shortage is due to a host of reasons, including rivalries among political parties in the south, but an interior ministry spokesman said the security situation was a major cause.

"In addition to attacks on pipelines, trucks carrying petroleum products are in the sights of the rebels. Some gas stations had to close after their drivers refused to go pick up gasoline and other products stored in the dangerous areas around Baghdad," said Assem Jihad.

The capital has some 160 gas stations, of which half are privately run, and long lines of motorists stretch in front of those still selling gasoline.

Turkish Press

[kenny blankenship]

1. 3 yrs at war & this is what we've accomplished: oil shortages in Iraq,

A country with the second largest proven reserves of oil in the world, after Saudi Arabia.

[Igel]

5. Yes, and at some point

the 'insurgency' surely must be considered guilty of attempts at collective punishment.

Were pipelines and production facilities to be bombed or shut down by the US, that would be the word for it. But blowing up pipelines that supply oil purely *domestically*, providing it solely to refineries for domestical gasoline and to power stations for domestic electricity production, accomplishes precisely the same purpose for precisely the same ends.

[acmavm]

2. There's some cosmic irony for you. Instead of democracy or even a

tiny semblance of 'freedom' (as in Let freedom reign), we give the Iraqis death, destruction, and oil shortages.

[megatherium]

3. I gather the government in Iraq has set gas prices to be too low,

so people there are smuggling gas to neighboring countries where prices are much higher, creating shortages in Iraq. So they are talking about raising gas prices.

[The Magistrate]

4. Credit Must Be Given Where It Is Due, Sir

A truely inspired effort is required to run short of oil in Iraq....

[bemildred]

6. Chalk shortages in Dover.

Coal in short supply in Pennsylvania.
Oddly enough, there ARE shortages of sand in Saudia Arabia.

These last few years should be a rich field for historians someday, not too far off.

[The Magistrate]

7. And Comedians, Sir

The fields may experience some overlap....

[Marie26]

8. Have they ever restored the

electricity in Iraq? I remember that power outages were a big problem 2 years ago - it seems like oil shortages would make the problem even worse now.

[bemildred]

9. I don't follow it closely, but my impression is one of

slow degradation. I don't think "restore" is likely to be an appropriate description while the occupation continues.

[Ezlivin]

10. Hey pal, where's the good news?

Are you going to be fair and balanced?

:sarcasm: