featuresWar

The Battle for Bayji, and the Heart of Iraqs Oil Industry

The Bayji Oil Refinery represents a lot of things for me. When I was first deployed there in 2005, the only thing it initially meant was the pungent smell of petroleum I thought I would never get over. But I quickly grew used to it, among other things. The refinery would be the location of the first improvised explosive device (IED) to hit my vehicle and the place that I would spend the majority of my hours “outside the wire” in an effort to write detailed reports about the inner workings of the refinery and the people who worked there. It far outweighed anything else I did for the next year.

When I visited various villages surrounding Bayji the children from other towns always said, “Bayji bad” and gave me the thumbs down. Recent battles between ISIS and Iraqi government forces seem to confirm that sentiment that Bayji is indeed a bad place. The Battle for Bayji between ISIS and Iraqi government and militia forces has been ongoing intermittently since November 2014. However, after the most recent battle in Tikrit ended in early April, ISIS has attempted to gain control of the Bayji Oil Refinery in a new offensive, begun on April 11, 2015. As the largest refinery in Iraq, Bayji Oil Refinery is an important source of power and money for ISIS, the Iraqi government and for local interests.

Strategic Importance

The first report I wrote on the refinery was rejected. It was not considered a major interest for the U.S.-led coalition at the time. When I left Bayji a year later, the U.S. military position on the importance of the refinery had reversed. An infantry company would be embedded there in an attempt to monitor widespread corruption and, hopefully, stop terrorist financing.  In my mind, there is no doubt that Bayji is strategically important. Therefore, it was no surprise Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey stated the same five days into the most recent battle for the refinery.

Bayji Oil Refinery, the largest in Iraq and lying along the primary supply route separating ISIS-controlled points to the north of Baghdad, is of great strategic importance for both government and ISIS forces.

General Dempsey upset many people with his remarks about the strategic differences, or lack thereof, between Bayji and Ramadi. Although his phrasing may have been questionable, it cannot be denied that the largest oil refinery in Iraq lying along the primary supply route separating ISIS-controlled points to the north of Baghdad is of strategic importance. Regardless of Dempsey’s remarks and strategic importance, Ramadi is also of great symbolic importance, especially to those who fought there and quite obviously to the vital pockets of Sunni support against ISIS that