Iraqi oil begins flowing again

Crude oil from Iraq’s southern fields began flowing through pipelines today for the first time since the start of the war.

US and UK forces, aided by Iraqi oil workers, fired up a gas-oil separation plant that sent oil to a pumping station and storage tank in the town of Zubayr, outside the key southern city of Basra.

Officials had planned to pump the oil to a refinery, but unexploded ordnance near the pipeline made that unfeasible today.

Officials say they will work to clear the ordnance and hope to have oil flowing into the refinery by Saturday.