ISIS seizes oil facility in Kirkuk producing 10,000 bpd
Last year, ISIS began selling crude oil and gasoline to finance their operations after seizing at least four small oilfields
A small crude oil station has been seized by ISIS militants in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, security and oil officials told Reuters news agency on Saturday, adding that 15 employees were missing.
"We received a call from one of the workers saying dozens of Daesh fighters were surrounding the facility and asking workers to leave the premises. We lost contact and now the workers might be taken hostage," an engineer from the North Oil Co told Reuters, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Khabbbusaz is a small oilfield 20 km southwest of Kirkuk with a maximum production capacity of 15,000 barrels per day. It was producing around 10,000 bpd before the attack, according to Reuters.
Last year, ISIS began selling crude oil and gasoline to finance their operations after seizing at least four small oilfields when it overran large areas of northern Iraq.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces sought to push back ISIS in further fighting near Khabbaz on Saturday, Kurdish military sources told the news agency.
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