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American Morning
Oil Flowing in Iraq
Aired April 24, 2003 - 09:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We heard Jay Garner earlier today talk about the oil flowing in the southeastern part of the country. No matter what lies ahead in the future government for Baghdad, oil will be critical. At the centerpiece really, helping to prop up that country's economy. That precious commodity flowing yet again, and John Vause live in Basra, to watch it there.
John, good afternoon.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Bill.
We know that Iraq has plenty of oil; by some estimates, it has about 150 years worth of supply. This is the southern oil fields here in Ramala. All that black liquid is, in fact, oil, and you can see in the distance the oil gushing there. That's actually coming from a broken pipeline, and that's a good sign. That means the oil wells here in the southern oil fields are now flowing into this facility just over here.
If we look at this berm, this was a defensive berm built by the Iraqis. It's about 25 feet high. It was built to keep out of coalition forces, who now maintain guard here, just over there. That's the British. But we've also seen the Americans here as well.
And just up on that building, a general-purpose machine gun, so some fairly heavy fire power here to secure this building, although the area is in fact very secure. One of the first secured as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
If we walk here, this is the facility, now being used. We're told Americans and Iraqis are inside. This facility now at 20 percent capacity. They hope in about a month or so it will reach full capacity. This is what they call a gas and oil separation plant. From here, the oil will go don to a refinery in Basra.
The next couple of days, they hope to pump about 170,000 barrels per day. Ultimately about nine weeks now, it should be up to 800,000 barrels per day, still well short prewar level of 2.5 barrels.
But there are huge problems here, Bill. The infrastructure isn't working, and in fact, one British army official told me, one of the problems they are coming against is that the Iraqis have redesigned all facilities. They've essentially compartmentalized them, so that if one section was hit by a bomb or an airstrike, the rest of the facility would continue to work. So, right now, that's one of the things they are doing inside -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, John, thanks. Great look there at southeastern Iraq. John Vause reporting in Basra.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 24, 2003 - 09:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We heard Jay Garner earlier today talk about the oil flowing in the southeastern part of the country. No matter what lies ahead in the future government for Baghdad, oil will be critical. At the centerpiece really, helping to prop up that country's economy. That precious commodity flowing yet again, and John Vause live in Basra, to watch it there.
John, good afternoon.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Bill.
We know that Iraq has plenty of oil; by some estimates, it has about 150 years worth of supply. This is the southern oil fields here in Ramala. All that black liquid is, in fact, oil, and you can see in the distance the oil gushing there. That's actually coming from a broken pipeline, and that's a good sign. That means the oil wells here in the southern oil fields are now flowing into this facility just over here.
If we look at this berm, this was a defensive berm built by the Iraqis. It's about 25 feet high. It was built to keep out of coalition forces, who now maintain guard here, just over there. That's the British. But we've also seen the Americans here as well.
And just up on that building, a general-purpose machine gun, so some fairly heavy fire power here to secure this building, although the area is in fact very secure. One of the first secured as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
If we walk here, this is the facility, now being used. We're told Americans and Iraqis are inside. This facility now at 20 percent capacity. They hope in about a month or so it will reach full capacity. This is what they call a gas and oil separation plant. From here, the oil will go don to a refinery in Basra.
The next couple of days, they hope to pump about 170,000 barrels per day. Ultimately about nine weeks now, it should be up to 800,000 barrels per day, still well short prewar level of 2.5 barrels.
But there are huge problems here, Bill. The infrastructure isn't working, and in fact, one British army official told me, one of the problems they are coming against is that the Iraqis have redesigned all facilities. They've essentially compartmentalized them, so that if one section was hit by a bomb or an airstrike, the rest of the facility would continue to work. So, right now, that's one of the things they are doing inside -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, John, thanks. Great look there at southeastern Iraq. John Vause reporting in Basra.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
