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Strike causes Iraq to stop oil exports for a day

"Faced with a pathetic and unjust situation, our moral responsibility leads us to demand in the name of our people a fair share of resources."

Mohammed Mosbeh al-Waeli, governor of Iraq's Basra Province

Iraq's oil exports were suspended for 24 hours yesterday because of a strike by 15,000 employees of the South Oil Company, a company official said.

"The export of oil was stopped this morning at 8am by 15,000 employees who are demanding higher wages," said the company official, requesting anonymity.

Employees were also demanding a better share-out of oil export revenues by the government, he said.

Samir Jassim, spokesman for the state-owned South Oil Co, said the work stoppage would not immediately affect crude-oil production and exports from the south's oil-rich fields.

But he warned that more labor actions could follow.

``Today's strike is peaceful, but if the central government in Baghdad doesn't meet the demands of oil workers, oil production and exports from the south will be terminated,'' Jassim said

In the north, the flow of Kirkuk crude to the Mediterranean export terminal of Ceyhan in Turkey stopped Saturday at 6pm local time because of a shortage of crude, according to an oil official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

Nearly all of Iraq's daily output of 2.1 million barrels last month came from southern oilfields, while all of the 1.43 million barrels a day of exports flowed through southern terminals, according to Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum.

Northern oil export routes remain paralyzed due to the security situation.

A week ago, the governor of Basra, Mohammed Mosbeh al-Waeli, demanded a fair share of oil revenues from the central government for his southern Iraqi province, hinting that failure to do so could foment secessionist sentiment in his Shiite heartland.

"Faced with a pathetic and unjust situation, our moral responsibility leads us to demand in the name of our people a fair share of resources," he said in Baghdad.

"The patience of the sons of the south who are deprived of their riches will not last forever," he said.

Waeli asked that greater powers be delegated to the provincial level.

"The masses in Basra Province have given the government a three-week deadline to fulfill their demands and warn against any attempts to treat them lightly or ignore them, because this will have negative consequences for the central government," he warned.

The governor denied he was working to split Basra Province from the rest of the country and declined to elaborate on what he would do if the government failed to meet the deadline.
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