Pipeline Lessons

Iraq has launched its latest oil export infrastructure expansion project; a new pipeline that would carry crude from southern Iraq across Jordan to the port of Aqaba on the Red Sea. When completed, the pipeline would carry crude from the southern oil fields in Basrah and Missan, as well as the Midland fields such as Nassiriya, Gharaf and Badra to be exported through a new terminal, primarily to markets in…

Interview: Jordan’s Foreign Minister Gives His Take On The War

14 March 2003 Ever since UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq, Jordan has been the only gateway to and from Baghdad. Ahead of the last Gulf War, the late King Hussein of Jordan played a major role mediating between Saddam Hussein and the international coalition that eventually drove Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991. Accused of siding with Iraq, Jordan was snubbed by the US, as well as its Gulf…

Iraq’s Baiji Refinery Sits Idle, Awaiting Power, Repair Work

29 April 2003 Iraq’s Baiji refinery — the biggest and newest of the country’s three main refineries — is being protected by members of the nearby Qaissi tribe. For the 5,000 workers at the Baiji refinery, 200 kilometers north of Baghdad, the first real contacts with US soldiers have yet to come. Hundreds of US army trucks can been seen moving north on the road from Baghdad to Mosul, but…

Iraq-US: Carrot & Stick

11 May 2001 In the run-up to the expected showdown at the UN in three weeks, when the current ninth phase of the Iraqi oil-for-food program ends, US State Department officials have embarked on intensive consultations with their four fellow permanent Security Council members on the ideas for “smart sanctions” the Americans intend to propose in the UN resolution covering the program’s 10th phase. The proposals, expounded to the French,…