After an explosive device tore through the back of an armored SUV carrying Chinese oil workers in Iraq in mid-July, security contractors said the US military, not China’s Daqing Petroleum, was the likely target.
The Explosively Formed Projectile, designed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp and often used by Shi’ite militia in Iraq, shredded the rear of the car and exited on the other side just behind the passenger seat.
Three Chinese workers, who were helping develop Iraq’s biggest oilfield Rumaila, received scratches and light burns. One security guard sitting in a front seat was hit by fragments.
Oil companies so far have shrugged off security concerns after sealing a dozen deals in Iraq, which have the potential to quadruple the country’s production capacity to rival Saudi levels of 12 million barrels per day.
“We have not had indications of international oil companies being targeted in any sense, and I think at the end of the day that will depend on what will be the motivation for those attacks,” said a foreign oil executive working in Iraq.
US military officials also said they did not think Shi’ite militia were targeting oil workers or facilities in the July 15 attack. “I think it is only a possibility,” said Major General Stephen Lanza, the US military spokesman in Iraq.
After US forces cut their numbers to 50,000 and formally announced that they had ended combat missions in Iraq on Aug. 31 (though they continue to be directly engaged in military operations), some security firms and Iraqi officials are wondering whether Sunni Islamist insurgents and Shi’ite militia might now focus on the companies developing the vast oil reserves.
In a statement posted on a radical Islamic Web site last month, a writer called for attacks on oil pipelines across Iraq on the grounds that oil was a main reason behind the invasion of “Muslim homes by atheist and disbelieving countries.”
ALL DEPENDS ON OIL
Oil is viewed by Iraqi and US officials alike as the panacea for Iraq’s ills. Everything depends on whether the OPEC member can secure its vital oilfields, export pipelines and refineries.
The government has placed security forces and oil police on alert for attacks by al-Qaeda-linked groups now that the US has transferred military authority to Iraqi forces and intelligence reports warn of a threat to oil facilities.
“Of course there will be some attempts to target [oil firms], but the areas where they work have good protection from Iraqi forces,” said Safa al-Sheikh, acting National Security Adviser.
“We don’t have accurate intelligence showing an increase [in attacks], but one thing we know about terrorists is that they resort to all possible means and attack anybody they can.”
Murder, intimidation and smuggling are also expected to rise in places such as the southern oil hub of Basra, as the line between insurgency and crime becomes more blurred.
“We certainly haven’t seen the end of terrorist attacks in Iraq,” said Kyle McEneaney, who heads the Middle East practice at Ergo, an emerging markets consultancy.
“International oil companies may be affected somewhat, but these companies are used to operating in difficult environments, and they understand the situation in Iraq.”
‘NO CRYSTAL BALL’
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply in the past two years, and the Shi’ite south, where most current oil production takes place, is relatively peaceful. But still there are attacks.
Militants fired mortars in late July near the southern Halfaya oilfield, and one round landed 200m from an active oil well, the US Army said.
The Iraq-Turkey pipeline in the north, which carries around a quarter of Iraq’s oil exports, is regularly hit by sabotage, usually blamed on al Qaeda and the banned Baath party.
So far oil majors have shown no signs of a weakening commitment to Iraq. Companies are moving ahead with issuing tenders for work in their fields to reach the production targets they have set.
“None of us has a crystal ball to tell whether there will be an increase in violence or not with the withdrawal of the US troops. I think it will primarily depend on the capability of the Iraqi security forces,” the foreign oil executive said.
Although oil companies are used to tough conditions, a serious deterioration in security could still make some reduce their staffing or even leave.
“So far it has had no impact on our operations,” said the executive. “We will need to evaluate those incidents to be able to judge what will be our next move. But then to be honest, everything is open.”
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located