Oil facilities in Khabbaz seized by Islamic State, 15 workers missing

#khabbaz #oilfield #kirkuk #baghdad As reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 31 January 2015, oil facilities of a crude oil separation unit in Khabbaz, near Kirkuk in Iraq have been seized by Islamic State insurgents and the 15 workers who were working there are missing. This has been confirmed by officials from the state-run North Oil Co.
Khabbaz is an oilfield located approximately 20-Km southwest of Kirkuk and it has a maximum production capacity of 15,000 barrels per day. It was, of course, producing nearly 10,000bpd before the attack. As narrated by the officials, dozens of Daesh fighters had surrounded the facility and had asked workers to leave the premises. There are fears that the messing workers could have been taken away as hostages. The IS jihadist movement had earlier seized at least four small oilfields and began to sell the crude oil and gasoline and the income from these sales financed their operations.