Iraq repairs Ajil oilfield torched by Islamic State in 2015: Minister

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The federal government of Iraq has finished repairing the Ajil oilfield which had been burned down by the Islamic State (IS)  in 2015, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Tuesday.

According to the minister, the oilfield is now pumping 7,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

Luaibi, in a statement, noted that Ajil would be producing 17,000 bpd by the end of the year. The oilfield has already been producing up to 100 million cubic feet of gas daily since the completion of previous repairs, he also explained.

The Ajil oilfield is located in the province of Salahuddin, near the city of Tikrit where IS carried out its infamous Speicher Massacre, killing thousands of Iraqi Air Force cadets.

On Monday late night, oil waste products also caught fire in Iraq’s southern Maysan Province, but the flames did not affect the production of the nearby Bazrakan oilfield, Khalid Wahim, spokesperson for the state-owned Maysan Oil Company, said on Tuesday.

“A fire started within oil waste, east of the city of Amara in central Maysan Province. The fire took place at a great distance from the Bazrakan oilfield and operations at the field were absolutely not affected, production is continuing normally,” Wahim said, quoted by Reuters.

“The company’s firefighters were able to control the fire which started late last night,” he asserted.

Editing by Nadia Riva