Tigris oil spill shuts down Iraq water plants

05 May 2009 14:09:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, May 5 (Reuters) - An oil pipeline in northern Iraq has burst, spewing gallons of crude into the Tigris river and forcing Baghdad municipality to shut down three water treatment plants in the past two days, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday.

The pipeline was pumping crude from northern oil fields to Iraq's biggest refinery in Baiji, north of Baghdad, when it sprang a leak near Baiji on April 28, local oil engineers said.

"Because of the leak, crude spilled into the Tigris for a whole day. We only managed to repair the leak on April 30," one engineer said.

The engineers said the leak sprang at a joint in the aging pipeline. Rusting, corroded pipelines can be seen across Iraq, part of the legacy of years of sanctions and neglect in the country's promising, but underproducing, oil sector.

An oil slick spanning 4 km (2.5 miles) has travelled over 100 km (62 miles) down the Tigris, reaching Baghdad on Monday, officials said.

"Yesterday, we shut off a major water treatment plant supplying the Karkh (western) side of Baghdad to avoid contaminating our drinking water with oil," said Hakim Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for Baghdad municipality.

While officials had restarted the plant later in the day, two other water treatment plants in eastern Baghdad were shut. They have not yet reopened, Abdul Zahra said.

This is not the first time a pipeline problem has spilled oil into one of Iraq's two main waterways. In September 2007, Iraq's northern export pipeline to Turkey was damaged by a bomb blast that sprayed crude into the Tigris.

Iraq, which has the world's third largest oil reserves, is courting some of the world's biggest oil companies for major contracts to develop oil fields and update aging equipment. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Janet Lawrence)