Page 5 - DMEA Week 44

DMEA Commentary DMEA
protesters. The sources said that tankers that move fuel to stations throughout the Dhi qar province had been prevented from entering the facility, resulting in shortages throughout the region.
Dhi qar had already been undersupplied with Nassiriya running at 15,000-20,000 bpd, well below its 30,000 bpd capacity, and requir- ing supplies to be provided from facilities in Basra and stored in tanks and warehouses at the refinery.
These too have been targeted by protesters, with employees having been kicked out and entrances blocked.
To say that the impact on oil will be troubling to Baghdad would be an understatement, The
country is nearly completely dependent on oil revenues to prop up its economy. Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Ministe adil abdul Mahdi, who last week offered to resign, received support this week from Kurdish President Nechirvan Barzani. “We have to bear in mind that one indi- vidual in Iraq who is today the Prime Minister is not responsible for the bad situation gripping the country,” he said. He added: “Rather, the whole political system of Iraq is responsible, from 2003 to date.”
“It has been just one year since the prime minister is in office and of course he does not have the magic power to resolve all the prob- lems within one year,” Barzani noted, saying that abdul Mahdi “must be given more chances”.™
On the morning of November 7, protestors left the Nassiriya refinery and Umm Qasr port, allowing operations to resume.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi has offered his resignation in the wake of ongoing mass protests.
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