In new tactic, militants set Iraqi oil well ablaze

摘要

A small Iraqi oil well was set ablaze by dissidents loyal to radical Shi'ite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr, causing crude prices to jump Aug 16 as the market reacted to the possibility Iraqi exports, already running low after an attack last week, could be disrupted further.The interim government said in a statement the well near the southern city of Amara was set ablaze by militants Aug 15. The statement did not say how much crude was being produced at the Buzurgan field near the Iranian border. "It produces a heavy crude we mix with Basrah Light for export from the south," an Iraqi oil official told P/afts without giving any precise production figures. The Buzurgan field produces API 26 gravity crude.