INSS foils crude oil smuggling operation in Basra

Shafaq News- Basra

Iraq's National Security Service (INSS) dismantled on Tuesday “an organized crude oil smuggling operation” in Basra province, southern Iraq, uncovering a covert pipeline buried beneath the highway linking Basra and Dhi Qar.

According to a statement, INSS units in Basra intercepted the operation along the Basra–Dhi Qar expressway. The breach involved a pressure pipe buried underground, extending more than 500 meters to connect with the main oil transport line, to siphon and smuggle crude oil.

At the scene, security forces seized two tanker trucks. One was loaded with crude oil and had attempted to flee; the second was empty and positioned to receive the stolen quantities.

Basra sits atop the vast majority of Iraq's 145 billion barrels of proved crude reserves —the fifth-largest in the world— with the Iraqi government placing the southern share at 71% of total national reserves. The province's fields, led by the super-giant Rumaila complex, historically account for the bulk of Iraq's output as OPEC's second-largest producer. Nearly all of that crude departs through two offshore terminals in the Persian Gulf, the Al Basra Oil Terminal (ABOT) and Khor al-Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT), which together handle approximately 97% of Iraq's total crude exports.