The global oil markets run on speculation. We know this. We have known this for a long time. The price of oil has NOTHING to do with reality.
(Reuters) - Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji (click here) remained under government control on Thursday after Sunni rebels' offensive through northern Iraq, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said.
(Reuters) - Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji (click here) remained under government control on Thursday after Sunni rebels' offensive through northern Iraq, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said.
Luaibi said Iraq was not importing any additional fuel and that stored supplies of gasoline and diesel were good.
The country's crude oil exports from its southern terminal at Basra were running at an average 2.6-2.7 million barrels per day as of Wednesday, he said.
Militants from an al Qaeda splinter group, who seized Iraq's second biggest city of Mosul this week, advanced into the oil refinery town of Baiji on Wednesday, setting the court house and police station on fire.
"Baiji refinery is totally secured by the special forces and operating normally now," an official at the refinery said on Thursday.
Security officials said additional special forces troops were sent to secure energy installations in Baiji on Wednesday, including the refinery and a nearby major power station. (Reporting by Rania el-Gamal, Vienna OPEC newsroom; Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Pravin Char)
