Maintaining heavy naval security for the two southern Iraqi offshore oil terminals remains one of the most critical missions for the coalition forces since the toppling of the former Iraqi regime, according to top naval commanders.
Four years after the US-led coalition ousted Saddam Hussein, both Al Basrah (ABOT) and Khawr al Amaya (KAAOT) terminals, 50 kilometres offshore from Basra, continue to be heavily guarded. They were secured by US Navy SEALS and Polish special forces during the opening hours of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.
"The mission of coalition forces here is very important for the economic revitalisation of Iraq," Commander of the Combined Task Group (CTG) Captain Paul Severs told dpa.
Severs said that ensuring the safe flow of oil out of Iraq was necessary to help the Iraqi government raise funds to push ahead with its reconstruction and economic revitalisation plans.
Commanding officer of the Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Anzac, Captain Ian Middleton, whose country will assume the next command of the task group, emphasised the importance of securing the oil fields for the benefit of the Iraqis.
"The country needs revenue and it could only come at the moment through these oil platforms so we have to protect them," he said. The importance of the two offshore fields, which account for more than 80 per cent of Iraq's current revenues, was clear with the early decision to provide protection from a dedicated naval task force, known as Combined Task Force 158 (CTF-158), set up under the command of the Bahrain-based US Navy 5th Fleet.
CTF-158, which is mainly made up of US, British, and Australian forces, also conducts training for Iraqi marines and naval forces to prepare them to handle their own security.
Iraqi Marines are already providing security for the platforms as first response teams backed-up by US Navy personnel. "We the coalition just provide protection for the platforms but its the Southern Oil Company that owns and sells the oil," Severs said. Iraqis control the oilfield development and operations through the Southern Oil Company (SOC), which is overseen by the Iraq National Oil Company (INOC). The Iraqi Oil Ministry has overall supervision.
ABOT, which was built in the 1970s, is the main stop for supertankers which export Iraqi oil overseas, accounting for about 95 per cent of the offshore production.
One and a half million barrels of crude oil are pumped daily via ABOT, which is about half of the terminal's loading capacity of 3 million barrels per day.
The ABOT platform renovations are nearly completed, unlike its sister platform KAAOT, which is 6 kilometres to the east and less than 5 kilometres from the contested borders with Iran.
KAAOT, which was built in late 1950s, sees less supertanker activity and like the rest of the country's oil infrastructure, suffers from years of neglect, damage from the consecutive wars, sanctions, and continued terrorist threats.
The dilapidated state of KAAOT is evident from the scraps of metal covering the platform, due to neglect, a fire in May 2006 which injured several Iraqis and other events.
Both offshore platforms are still bullet-riddled and have shell craters from the wars. ABOT reopened for business in July 2003, while KAAOT reopened in February 2004.
Severs, who said that any possible British pull-out from southern Iraq would not affect their mission, declined to comment on whether the threat to the platforms, which were targetted in a three-pronged suicide attack from boats loaded with explosives in April 2004, has decreased or increased.
He did however point out that the threat was still present, adding that the coalition was prepared to deal with such threats.
The 2004 attacks claimed the lives of three US service members, two Navy sailors and a Coast Guard man, prompting the coalition to declare a 3,000-metre warning zone and 2,000-metre exclusion zone that extends around each terminal.
The enforcement of the zone is carried out by US Navy and Coast Guard ships, as well as Australian, British, and Iraqi ships.
Both Severs and Middleton said that they were unconcerned about the nearby Iranian naval activity despite the increasing tension between Washington and Tehran.
"We watch them operate in their waters and international ones just like they watch us operate here," said Severs. Middleton described relations with the Iranian Navy as cordial, despite the March 23 incident where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard detained 15 British sailors from the HMS Cornwall for 12 days, alleging that they had entered Iranian territorial waters.
"We do bear that in mind and we have procedures in place to prevent reoccurrence of that," Middleton said. Lieutenant Commander Eric Young, the gunnery officer on Australia's HMAS Anzac which is part of a network that oversees coalition surveillance and security for the platforms, said they understood Iran's concerns about the large presence the coalition has just outside their borders. One of the difficulties they face with enforcing the security zones is the 300 contacts on their radars every day to keep track of, Young added.
According to coalition officials, most of the vessels which breach the 3,000-metre warning zone, which occurs several times daily, are local fishing dhows that do not have GPS systems or are trying to take shortcuts to save fuel and time.
-dpa
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