...

Iraqi general: Iranian troops "occupy" oil well on Iraqi border

Iran Materials 18 December 2009 17:56 (UTC +04:00)
Iranian troops have claimed an oil well on the border of southern Iraq, a senior Iraqi military officer said Friday.
Iraqi general: Iranian troops "occupy" oil well on Iraqi border

Iranian troops have claimed an oil well on the border of southern Iraq, a senior Iraqi military officer said Friday, DPA reported.

Iranian troops on Thursday "occupied" the "Number 4" oil well in the Eastern Maysan oil field, located in the border district of al- Fakah, Brigadier-General Dhafir Nadhmi said in a statement Friday.

Nadhmi said that Iranian forces had taken control of the well, dug a trench around it, deployed armoured vehicles, and raised the Iranian flag over the well.

The officer's claims could not immediately be independently verified.

When, in June 2009, Iraq opened bidding on the rights to develop its oil fields to foreign companies, the government said it would create a state-run oil company to boost production from "neglected" Maysan province.

The largely marshy region, some 450 kilometres south of Baghdad, currently produces between 100,000 and 110,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), the government said in June, with the aim to boost production from the province to more than 300,000 bpd in five years.

Latest

Latest