IRAQ. An American agency monitoring reconstruction in Iraq said on Friday that oil exports through Iraq’s Northern pipeline rose more than tenfold over the past year, citing a sharp drop in attacks on the pipeline and new infrastructure built to protect it.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said in a report that there had been no insurgent attacks on the pipeline, which exports crude oil from Northern Iraq to Turkey, since the American infrastructure project began last July.

The work at the Kirkuk to Baiji Pipeline exclusion zone, phase 3, is partially funded by USAID's Economic Support Fund for Iraq. 

As a result, crude oil exports from Iraq’s North rose from an average of 1 million barrels a month to more than 13 million, the report said. Nearly all of the Iraqi government’s revenue comes from oil exports, so the increased flow has direct implications for the Iraqi people. The increased exports were worth US$8 billion, the report said.

To protect the pipeline, berms, fences and guardhouses were built, and American soldiers patrol its 60-mile length. Iraqi guards monitor its perimeter. Iraq’s government has promised to commit almost 800 Iraqi soldiers to take over for the American patrols.

Ginger Cruz, the Deputy Inspector General, said the overall decline in violence in Iraq had helped account for the US$34 million project’s success. The rise in oil exports marked a sharp turnaround from earlier years, when Sunni Arab insurgents staged relentless attacks on the pipeline, often stopping the flow of oil.

The supply of crude oil has been flowing to the key Northern Baiji refinery, which has helped increase the production of electricity, the report said.

In political news, a religious leader and member of Parliament, Sheik Jalaladeen al-Sagheer, spoke out on Friday against the Parliament’s recent decision not to allow campaigns to use religious symbols or canvass in mosques ahead of Iraq’s provincial elections.

Sheik Sagheer, a member of one of Iraq’s most powerful Shiite parties, said mosques were reasonable venues for campaigns.

“There are no other places for the candidates to clarify their campaign goals to voters,” he said during a Friday sermon.

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