Dhi Qar unrest raises oil sector risks

NASSIRIYA - Deadly violence and protests in Dhi Qar are destabilizing a key oil-producing province, threatening to shut down the Nassiriya oil field and raising security concerns that could scare away foreign companies.

In one recent incident, on the morning of Feb. 19, an Oil Ministry engineer was shot dead while working on a gas pipeline running between the state-run Nassiriya field and the Petronas-operated Gharraf oil field, according to three security and industry officials. The alleged killer belongs to the Budour tribe, which has been staging job-seeking and land compensation protests around Nasiriya oil field for over a week, according to a local security official and a civilian activist in Dhi Qar.