Some stories you may not have read or seen in your local media


Substation Expansion Provides More Power
BASRAH, Iraq, Aug. 17, 2007 — The multi-million dollar rehabilitation and expansion of the 132 kilovolt substation at the port of Khor Az Zubair in the Basrah Province will provide a reliable power source to the port facility and to residential and commercial areas.

U.S., Iraqi Troops Provide Medical Assistance
Al BLASEM, Iraq, Aug. 17, 2007 — U.S. and Iraqi troops joined forces to treat nearly 200 citizens of al-Blasem, Iraq, southwest of Baghdad, Aug. 14. Citizens were treated for coughs, colds and aches and pains.

No Mountain Too High for Reconstruction Team
PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2007 — Whether crawling over dirt mounds to inspect a school, hiking mountains 9,000 feet above sea level, or handing out stuffed animals, members of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team are pushing progress in Afghanistan.

Al Basrah Oil Terminal Project Nears Completion
Renovations will enhance productivity, increase safety for workers.

Prior to renovation ABOT illustrated the condition of the entire Iraqi oil infrastructure. Designed and commissioned by Brown and Root in 1974, the 30-year-old technology was in serious disrepair from decades of under funding, lack of preventive maintenance, and war damage from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War.
The terminal, known as ABOT, is Iraq’s primary avenue for crude oil export.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invested $67.5 million to rehabilitate the export facility 50 km offshore in the Arabian Gulf. Currently, one and a half million barrels of crude oil a day leave Iraq via tankers on-loading at ABOT. That volume is roughly half of the terminal loading capacity of 3 million barrels per day achieved with the upgrade.