Iraqi oilmen say they need law and order%)
Friday,May23,2003,5:37 PM
Basra, Iraq-AP -- Iraqi oil executives are upbeat about getting the crude flowing again -- to a point. They say exports could resume by the end of June, but only if key facilities are repaired and protected against looting.
Oil exports are essential to rebuilding the nation. Yesterday's U-N vote lifting sanctions helps, but law and order is a bigger challenge.
State-run South Oil has at least 400 British-trained police guarding its Basra refinery and other facilities, and it plans to boost that force to more than a thousand. But the guards have no authority to make arrests.
One South Oil executive says there's another big problem as well. He says there's no government and no authority except the Oil Ministry, and that's just at the beginning of its work.
Iraq has the world's second-largest supply of proven oil reserves.
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