Blaze shuts down Iraqi oil refinery

An oil refinery near Iraq’s southern port city of Basra probably will remain shut for days after a large fire Tuesday that highlighted the vulnerability of the country’s energy infrastructure to criminal and political power struggles.

Five men suffered severe burns, and the sky was clotted with thick smoke until the two-hour fire was extinguished. The refinery provides petroleum products to consumers in southern Iraq.

“There was severe damage to the refinery,” said Basra Gov. Mohammed Waeli, adding that the facility would remain closed for days.

The Basra area is subject to entrenched banditry, estimated to cost the state billions of dollars each year, at the hands of rival gangs, many of them suspected of affiliation with Shiite Muslim political parties that control the area.

As a result, “you can’t imagine who wouldn’t” commit sabotage in Basra, said a Western advisor to the Iraqi government. “These could be local rivalries; they could be broader rivalries.”

The blaze may have been tied to “local advantage, maybe payback. Who knows?” the advisor said. “The situation in Basra [is]: It’s hard to tell if there are any good guys.”

Officials say smuggling-related violence is rooted in battles taking place in Basra among political factions and criminal gangs. Local chapters of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Waeli’s Fadila party and Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr’s movement have all been accused of involvement in the lucrative smuggling trade.

British forces withdrew from the city in September, but officials worry about the lawlessness that still exists.

“The national government is trying to get the situations sorted in Basra to reduce corruption and get the [local] parties out of running things. It’s not just the oil -- it’s the ports, the points of entry -- it’s everything,” the Western advisor said.

Historically, two-thirds of Iraq’s oil output came from southern fields and flowed through Basra. More than 1.5 million barrels of oil still move through the area every day, providing the bulk of the central government’s revenue.

Iraq’s proven oil reserves are estimated to be around 115 billion barrels, the world’s third-largest after Saudi Arabia’s and Canada’s.

Witnesses said Tuesday’s blaze was ignited by a rocket or mortar attack, but their account did not win full endorsement from authorities. Investigators said they were not yet able to rule out mechanical failure.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Oil Ministry alleged that a helicopter belonging to the U.S.-led coalition was somehow responsible -- a charge denied by the military.

Hakim Mayahi, head of the Basra provincial council’s security committee, said, “We should not forget that there are international terrorist organizations and regional countries’ intelligence agencies that often interfere in order to create security chaos in Iraq.”

Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the many conflicting gangs “make it pretty damn difficult to understand what is going on.”

The effects, however, are acute.

“All of the impact of an interruption is felt immediately, because there are no stockpiles; there is nothing to absorb the shocks,” said the Western advisor to the Iraqi government.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, Justice Ministry vehicles slammed into a group of fourth- and fifth-grade students Tuesday. The disturbance caused guards at a nearby checkpoint for the Foreign Affairs Ministry to open fire. Five boys were killed in the initial accident.

Elsewhere in the capital, Majid Khudair Lafta, a Shiite leader of a local volunteer group, was killed in a confrontation with gunmen.

The volunteer groups, known as concerned local citizens, are largely made up of former insurgents who have agreed to work alongside U.S.-led security forces in exchange for payment. They have been credited with contributing to Iraq’s recent decrease in violence.

Along the nation’s northern perimeter, Turkish attack planes bombarded Kurdish villagers, according to sources in the Kurdistan Workers Party, a rebel Turkish Kurd group. The attacks could not be immediately confirmed by Turkish authorities.

garrett.therolf@latimes.com

Times staff writer Ned Parker and special correspondents in Irbil, Baghdad and Basra contributed to this report.