News Feature:
Karzan Sherabayani investigating the oil crisis in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
TC 10:00:06:00 - KARZAN SHERABAYANI - PTC: this is Babagurgur, Kirkuks main oil field. With its 600 billion barrel of oil reserves its also the largest in the country. Babagurgur is also the root of all the problems of Iraq.
TC 10:00:17:14 - FAZIL SHAFIQ, (director Iraq Oil Product Company) In Kurdish with English subtitles: Iraq needs 11 million litres of oil per day but now we only get 1 million.
K VO 1 Iraqs oil crises is not new to me, since in 1963 the army destroyed my Kurdish family village, because it was located here in Kirkuks main oilfield.
In the new Iraq I am now compensated with a plot of land just a few miles north of the original Shoraw village.
KPTC: well, do I want to build a house on my plot of land like some of my family members have done already? Im not sure, not yet. This needs to wait. I first need to find out whether the fight over Iraqs oil can be solved once and for all and if Kirkuk can ever have a brighter future.
K VO 2 - At the moment Kirkuk is a crippled city with shortages of water, electricity and fuel. Long queues of cars line up at every single petrol station. I am shocked at how much the security has deteriorated. The violence is so great that even filming these queues makes me a suspect and the police arrest me.
Police: shut off this camera!
KPTC: Im actually escorted right now to the police station and I can just show you the police here right in front of me.
KPTC: They are worried that I might be an insurgent or after something dodgy. But at the same time they are saying to me, you must shut your camera and Im saying, well I am not because the reason why I am here is because Im trying to film the situation in Kirkuk.
K VO 3 - However, the policeman tells me why everybody here in Kirkuk is extremely nervous. Insurgents had attacked 3 petrol stations just a few days ago.
KPTC: as you can see this street is completely sealed off for security matters because Im outside of Iraqs petroleum distribution company.
K VO 4 - I want to ask the companys director Fazil Shafiq - what he has to say about the scale of the petrol crisis.
FAZIL SHAFIQ, (director IOPC) In Kurdish with English subtitles: To solve the petrol shortage in Kirkuk we need 1 million 400000 litres per day but we only get about 500000 litres. We still lack 900000 and completely depend on import.
KPTC: he just received news that two car explosions happened this morning about an hour ago. Two attacks, one is against the police and one is against the Patriotic Union, the political party of the actual president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani.
KVO 5 I decide to have a look at the scene of the carnage to get a sense of daily life in Kirkuk.
KPTC: he says, from the way the truck drove in and hit the block, you can just see, look at this, amazing. He must have come with an unbelievable speed and this truck managed to come in, hitting one of them and look at the state of this piece of cement down there.
KPTC: he says he was in the garden at the time standing there and a piece hit his head.
KVO 6 - What we see here is the result of a huge power struggle. Different ethnic groups have been fighting for control of Kirkuk and its oil. During Saddams time the Arabs dominated. Since his fall, the Kurds are moving back and now they are being attacked.
TC 10:04:11:20 - HALPACH AZIZ - In Kurdish with English subtitles: They hate us Kurds because we like the British and the Americans.
K: Or is it because you want Kirkuk?
HALPACH AZIZ: No, no its because we are American and British allies.
KVO 7 The terror attacks here in Kirkuk are clearly an attempt by the insurgents to drag the Kurds into a civil war - which already started between the Sunni and Shiite Arabs in other parts of Iraq because at the moment the Kurds are the main force to keep Iraq together, and build a democratic government.
KPTC: He wants to show me it seems to be a piece of hand of the suicide bomber oh my god ah, ah.
KPTC: I would like to criticize the British government, I as a Kurd.
TC 10:05:05:08 ABUDLMUTALIB TAHRI - In Kurdish with English subtitles: Britain is to blame for the suffering of us Kurds. In the 1920s treaty of Lausanne Britain divided Kurdistan. They created Iraq and forced us into it. If they left Kurdistan as a free country we wouldnt face problems now. We would have lived peacefully in our country without having to deal with Arab Baathist and Fascist regimes, free from terrorist attacks.
KVO 8 - Fortunately I have managed to escape the mayhem in Kirkuk , heading north towards the Turkish border, back on track, investigating Iraqs oil crises.
The city of Zakho, along the Turkish border, appears like a different world. What a contrast to see the locals having fun.
However, at the border crossing, thousands of truck drivers are roasting in unbearable heat. Iraqs oil import and export business seems to be very inefficient.
KPTC: this is Asia square on the border between Iraq and Turkey. Its actually the main hub for Iraqi oil. Trucks from all over the county are bringing crude oil and dumping it here. Then Turkish trucks loading the crude oil and taking it over the border to be refined in Turkey then transported back into Iraq and sold as a refined oil.
KVO 9 - This laborious tanker operation is necessary because most of the Iraqi pipeline network and refineries were sabotaged after the fall of Saddam.
I wonder how the truck drivers are coping with the deadly insurgent attacks.
IDRIS MUHSEN, (truck driver 1) - In Arabic with English subtitles:
We Iraqis are brave people. We have been through it all. We are not afraid of anything and we serve our country.
K - in Arabic: As an Arab arent you afraid to be here in the middle of the Kurds?
TC 10:06:44:08 - IDRIS MUHSEN: No because we Iraqis Shiias, Sunnis, Kurds we are all brothers.
TC 10:07:03:07 - MUNIR JASIM, (Arab truck driver 2) - In Arabic with English subtitles: At the moment safety is not our main concern. Our problem is Turkey closing the border. We have spent 12 days away from our children and wives.
KVO 10 - Currently between 8 to 10000 trucks are stuck here at the border. It is not a reliable alternative to the oil pipelines. Turkey is partly to blame for the oil shortage in Iraq because it closed the border for so long.
However, Iraqs traffic is still moving - even increasing because, all over the country, millions of litres of smuggled fuel is sold along the roadside.
Authorities allow this smuggling business to thrive because it keeps the country running and it prevents thousands of unemployed Iraqis from joining the insurgents.
Even children like 12-year-old Hawkar are involved in the trade.
HAWKAR, (petrol seller) - In Arabic with English subtitles: I sell petrol during my school summer holiday.
K: Where does this come from?
HAWKAR: - From Iran.
KPTC: so the pink colour petrol comes from Iran, smuggled into Iraq.
KVO 11 To follow up on the smuggling is my next mission, and I am on my way to the Iranian border. I expect to watch out for secret night-time operations, but to my surprise, smuggling happens in bright day-light and seems to be the main occupation in this part of the world.
K in Kurdish with subtitles: Where are you from?
SMUGGLER 1: - From the Iranian side
K: What did you bring in today?
SMUGGLER 1: - Fuel
K: How much?
SMUGGLER 1: - 22 canisters
K: How much profit will you make?
SMUGGLER 1: I dont know it depends on the market.
KPTC: there are 5 different border crossings like this where an estimated 5000 canisters is smuggled in every day. That makes something like 100000 litres of petrol sold along the roadsides for 70000 dollars.
K: Does the Iranian border guard shoot at you?
SMUGGLER 2: - Yes and they kill our horses.
K: Do they kill people as well?
SMUGGLER 2: - Yes, many
K: Arent you scared doing this job?
SMUGGLER 2: I am but what else could I do? In Iran we dont have other jobs, especially for the Kurds.
SMUGGLER 3: I would leave Iran immediately.
K: Where would you go?
SMUGGLER 3: Even Iraq is better.
KVO 12 Im amazed to hear that Kurds from Iran would prefer to live in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which they consider liberated.
I also realize that the new Kurdish regional government is taking advantage of this liberation to solve Iraqs oil crises.
In December 2005 they started their own drilling operations in new oil fields within Iraqs Kurdish region.
At the governments central office in Erbil - the new Kurdish capital - Im trying to get a permission to visit these sites.
KPTC: no luck. The Kurdish oil fields are the most sensitive sites in the Kurdistan region. The Kurdish authority dont want to talk about it and they are adamant not to give anybody permission to visit the sites.
KVO 13 - But my Kurdish instincts tell me not to take no as an answer and to try my luck on the ground.
My first destination is the site of a new oil refinery in Koya.
The director of the site an Arab doesnt want me to film, but fortunately the security guards are Kurds and they dont ask for a permit they are even pleased to see me.
KPTC: I asked him, where is your Kalashnikov and he says, I dont need a gun. Im the officer. Im responsible. They carry the gun, they do the hard work.
KVO 14 - The officer tells me that the Koya refinery should be completed in 2008. It will be ready to refine up to 70000 barrels of crude oil per day - more than enough for all of Iraqs needs.
Although the central oil ministry in Baghdad supervises the Koya refinery the plant is located next to one of the new Kurdish oil fields. Thats where Im heading next. Lets see how far I get without permission.
K - in Kurdish with subtitles: Are they extracting oil here?
KURDISH GUARD: Yes, its an oil field.
KPTC: Apparently this site is run by a Turkish and Swedish company, according to the gentleman.
KVO 15 - It doesnt take long and a South African security consultant interrupts my chat.
SOUTH AFRICAN: could you please, excuse me I go to warn you once more: stop filming me with that camera.
KVO 16 - I try to find out who he is working for.
K: so you are not working for the Kurdish regional government.
SOUTH AFRICAN: no
K: you are for a private company?
SOUTH AFRICAN: yes
K: whats the name of the company?
SOUTH AFRICAN: Genok
K: Genel? Is that a Turkish company?
SOUTH AFRICAN: yes thats correct.
K: oh, I see.
KVO 17 - Once again, a local Kurdish officer rescues me and invites me to meet his boss inside the compound. However, the South African guard makes sure we dont film anything on the way.
The head of the local Kurdish guards doesnt mind being filmed. But our friendly talk is interrupted when the Turkish director kicks me out.
KPTC: Same old Kurdish say: we are foreigners on our land and the foreigners are our landlords.
KVO 18 I am puzzled to discover that my people, finally free from Saddam, are now inviting Turkish companies to control their most important assets.
I ask Omar Fatah, the Kurdish vice Prime Minister, if we will end up as a Turkish colony?
TC 10:12:34:18 - OMAR FATAH, (Kurdish vice Prime Minister) in Kurdish with subtitles: Not at all, having Turkey involved is the best guarantee for peace. They will protect their business in our country. Since Turkey wants to join the EU they will have to become our friends like the Europeans.
KVO 19 - I wish I could be as optimistic as Omar Fatah. I wish I had enough belief in the future to build a house on my new plot of land here in Kirkuk. However, I fear that the curse of oil may still lead to even more bloodshed.
KPTC: Having witnessed these days the life around Iraq or Kurdistan region and particularly the ethnic tension in Kirkuk I realised that this is not for me, not yet but hopefully in the future.
Filmed by
Claudio Von Planta
Edited by
Claudio Von Planta & Karzan Sherabayani
Produced & Directed by
Karzan Sherabayani
Joka Films 2006
Karzan Sherabayani investigating the oil crisis in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
TC 10:00:06:00 - KARZAN SHERABAYANI - PTC: this is Babagurgur, Kirkuks main oil field. With its 600 billion barrel of oil reserves its also the largest in the country. Babagurgur is also the root of all the problems of Iraq.
TC 10:00:17:14 - FAZIL SHAFIQ, (director Iraq Oil Product Company) In Kurdish with English subtitles: Iraq needs 11 million litres of oil per day but now we only get 1 million.
K VO 1 Iraqs oil crises is not new to me, since in 1963 the army destroyed my Kurdish family village, because it was located here in Kirkuks main oilfield.
In the new Iraq I am now compensated with a plot of land just a few miles north of the original Shoraw village.
KPTC: well, do I want to build a house on my plot of land like some of my family members have done already? Im not sure, not yet. This needs to wait. I first need to find out whether the fight over Iraqs oil can be solved once and for all and if Kirkuk can ever have a brighter future.
K VO 2 - At the moment Kirkuk is a crippled city with shortages of water, electricity and fuel. Long queues of cars line up at every single petrol station. I am shocked at how much the security has deteriorated. The violence is so great that even filming these queues makes me a suspect and the police arrest me.
Police: shut off this camera!
KPTC: Im actually escorted right now to the police station and I can just show you the police here right in front of me.
KPTC: They are worried that I might be an insurgent or after something dodgy. But at the same time they are saying to me, you must shut your camera and Im saying, well I am not because the reason why I am here is because Im trying to film the situation in Kirkuk.
K VO 3 - However, the policeman tells me why everybody here in Kirkuk is extremely nervous. Insurgents had attacked 3 petrol stations just a few days ago.
KPTC: as you can see this street is completely sealed off for security matters because Im outside of Iraqs petroleum distribution company.
K VO 4 - I want to ask the companys director Fazil Shafiq - what he has to say about the scale of the petrol crisis.
FAZIL SHAFIQ, (director IOPC) In Kurdish with English subtitles: To solve the petrol shortage in Kirkuk we need 1 million 400000 litres per day but we only get about 500000 litres. We still lack 900000 and completely depend on import.
KPTC: he just received news that two car explosions happened this morning about an hour ago. Two attacks, one is against the police and one is against the Patriotic Union, the political party of the actual president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani.
KVO 5 I decide to have a look at the scene of the carnage to get a sense of daily life in Kirkuk.
KPTC: he says, from the way the truck drove in and hit the block, you can just see, look at this, amazing. He must have come with an unbelievable speed and this truck managed to come in, hitting one of them and look at the state of this piece of cement down there.
KPTC: he says he was in the garden at the time standing there and a piece hit his head.
KVO 6 - What we see here is the result of a huge power struggle. Different ethnic groups have been fighting for control of Kirkuk and its oil. During Saddams time the Arabs dominated. Since his fall, the Kurds are moving back and now they are being attacked.
TC 10:04:11:20 - HALPACH AZIZ - In Kurdish with English subtitles: They hate us Kurds because we like the British and the Americans.
K: Or is it because you want Kirkuk?
HALPACH AZIZ: No, no its because we are American and British allies.
KVO 7 The terror attacks here in Kirkuk are clearly an attempt by the insurgents to drag the Kurds into a civil war - which already started between the Sunni and Shiite Arabs in other parts of Iraq because at the moment the Kurds are the main force to keep Iraq together, and build a democratic government.
KPTC: He wants to show me it seems to be a piece of hand of the suicide bomber oh my god ah, ah.
KPTC: I would like to criticize the British government, I as a Kurd.
TC 10:05:05:08 ABUDLMUTALIB TAHRI - In Kurdish with English subtitles: Britain is to blame for the suffering of us Kurds. In the 1920s treaty of Lausanne Britain divided Kurdistan. They created Iraq and forced us into it. If they left Kurdistan as a free country we wouldnt face problems now. We would have lived peacefully in our country without having to deal with Arab Baathist and Fascist regimes, free from terrorist attacks.
KVO 8 - Fortunately I have managed to escape the mayhem in Kirkuk , heading north towards the Turkish border, back on track, investigating Iraqs oil crises.
The city of Zakho, along the Turkish border, appears like a different world. What a contrast to see the locals having fun.
However, at the border crossing, thousands of truck drivers are roasting in unbearable heat. Iraqs oil import and export business seems to be very inefficient.
KPTC: this is Asia square on the border between Iraq and Turkey. Its actually the main hub for Iraqi oil. Trucks from all over the county are bringing crude oil and dumping it here. Then Turkish trucks loading the crude oil and taking it over the border to be refined in Turkey then transported back into Iraq and sold as a refined oil.
KVO 9 - This laborious tanker operation is necessary because most of the Iraqi pipeline network and refineries were sabotaged after the fall of Saddam.
I wonder how the truck drivers are coping with the deadly insurgent attacks.
IDRIS MUHSEN, (truck driver 1) - In Arabic with English subtitles:
We Iraqis are brave people. We have been through it all. We are not afraid of anything and we serve our country.
K - in Arabic: As an Arab arent you afraid to be here in the middle of the Kurds?
TC 10:06:44:08 - IDRIS MUHSEN: No because we Iraqis Shiias, Sunnis, Kurds we are all brothers.
TC 10:07:03:07 - MUNIR JASIM, (Arab truck driver 2) - In Arabic with English subtitles: At the moment safety is not our main concern. Our problem is Turkey closing the border. We have spent 12 days away from our children and wives.
KVO 10 - Currently between 8 to 10000 trucks are stuck here at the border. It is not a reliable alternative to the oil pipelines. Turkey is partly to blame for the oil shortage in Iraq because it closed the border for so long.
However, Iraqs traffic is still moving - even increasing because, all over the country, millions of litres of smuggled fuel is sold along the roadside.
Authorities allow this smuggling business to thrive because it keeps the country running and it prevents thousands of unemployed Iraqis from joining the insurgents.
Even children like 12-year-old Hawkar are involved in the trade.
HAWKAR, (petrol seller) - In Arabic with English subtitles: I sell petrol during my school summer holiday.
K: Where does this come from?
HAWKAR: - From Iran.
KPTC: so the pink colour petrol comes from Iran, smuggled into Iraq.
KVO 11 To follow up on the smuggling is my next mission, and I am on my way to the Iranian border. I expect to watch out for secret night-time operations, but to my surprise, smuggling happens in bright day-light and seems to be the main occupation in this part of the world.
K in Kurdish with subtitles: Where are you from?
SMUGGLER 1: - From the Iranian side
K: What did you bring in today?
SMUGGLER 1: - Fuel
K: How much?
SMUGGLER 1: - 22 canisters
K: How much profit will you make?
SMUGGLER 1: I dont know it depends on the market.
KPTC: there are 5 different border crossings like this where an estimated 5000 canisters is smuggled in every day. That makes something like 100000 litres of petrol sold along the roadsides for 70000 dollars.
K: Does the Iranian border guard shoot at you?
SMUGGLER 2: - Yes and they kill our horses.
K: Do they kill people as well?
SMUGGLER 2: - Yes, many
K: Arent you scared doing this job?
SMUGGLER 2: I am but what else could I do? In Iran we dont have other jobs, especially for the Kurds.
SMUGGLER 3: I would leave Iran immediately.
K: Where would you go?
SMUGGLER 3: Even Iraq is better.
KVO 12 Im amazed to hear that Kurds from Iran would prefer to live in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which they consider liberated.
I also realize that the new Kurdish regional government is taking advantage of this liberation to solve Iraqs oil crises.
In December 2005 they started their own drilling operations in new oil fields within Iraqs Kurdish region.
At the governments central office in Erbil - the new Kurdish capital - Im trying to get a permission to visit these sites.
KPTC: no luck. The Kurdish oil fields are the most sensitive sites in the Kurdistan region. The Kurdish authority dont want to talk about it and they are adamant not to give anybody permission to visit the sites.
KVO 13 - But my Kurdish instincts tell me not to take no as an answer and to try my luck on the ground.
My first destination is the site of a new oil refinery in Koya.
The director of the site an Arab doesnt want me to film, but fortunately the security guards are Kurds and they dont ask for a permit they are even pleased to see me.
KPTC: I asked him, where is your Kalashnikov and he says, I dont need a gun. Im the officer. Im responsible. They carry the gun, they do the hard work.
KVO 14 - The officer tells me that the Koya refinery should be completed in 2008. It will be ready to refine up to 70000 barrels of crude oil per day - more than enough for all of Iraqs needs.
Although the central oil ministry in Baghdad supervises the Koya refinery the plant is located next to one of the new Kurdish oil fields. Thats where Im heading next. Lets see how far I get without permission.
K - in Kurdish with subtitles: Are they extracting oil here?
KURDISH GUARD: Yes, its an oil field.
KPTC: Apparently this site is run by a Turkish and Swedish company, according to the gentleman.
KVO 15 - It doesnt take long and a South African security consultant interrupts my chat.
SOUTH AFRICAN: could you please, excuse me I go to warn you once more: stop filming me with that camera.
KVO 16 - I try to find out who he is working for.
K: so you are not working for the Kurdish regional government.
SOUTH AFRICAN: no
K: you are for a private company?
SOUTH AFRICAN: yes
K: whats the name of the company?
SOUTH AFRICAN: Genok
K: Genel? Is that a Turkish company?
SOUTH AFRICAN: yes thats correct.
K: oh, I see.
KVO 17 - Once again, a local Kurdish officer rescues me and invites me to meet his boss inside the compound. However, the South African guard makes sure we dont film anything on the way.
The head of the local Kurdish guards doesnt mind being filmed. But our friendly talk is interrupted when the Turkish director kicks me out.
KPTC: Same old Kurdish say: we are foreigners on our land and the foreigners are our landlords.
KVO 18 I am puzzled to discover that my people, finally free from Saddam, are now inviting Turkish companies to control their most important assets.
I ask Omar Fatah, the Kurdish vice Prime Minister, if we will end up as a Turkish colony?
TC 10:12:34:18 - OMAR FATAH, (Kurdish vice Prime Minister) in Kurdish with subtitles: Not at all, having Turkey involved is the best guarantee for peace. They will protect their business in our country. Since Turkey wants to join the EU they will have to become our friends like the Europeans.
KVO 19 - I wish I could be as optimistic as Omar Fatah. I wish I had enough belief in the future to build a house on my new plot of land here in Kirkuk. However, I fear that the curse of oil may still lead to even more bloodshed.
KPTC: Having witnessed these days the life around Iraq or Kurdistan region and particularly the ethnic tension in Kirkuk I realised that this is not for me, not yet but hopefully in the future.
Filmed by
Claudio Von Planta
Edited by
Claudio Von Planta & Karzan Sherabayani
Produced & Directed by
Karzan Sherabayani
Joka Films 2006