BAGHDAD, Jan 23 (AFP) - Iraq's Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban will miss next week's OPEC meeting in Vienna due to next week's national election and the country's chronic fuel shortages.
"Ghadban will not go to Vienna because it will fall during the election and our demand we presented for a delay will not be accepted," said ministry spokesman Assem Jihad.
"The person who will represent Iraq will be designated tomorrow (Monday)," he said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is due to meet next Sunday, the same day as the Iraqi election.
Ghadban said in mid-January that insurgents were carrying out at least one attack a day on Iraq's vital oil infrastructure, at times shutting down all fuel lines to Baghdad.
The relentless acts of sabotage have effectively robbed Iraq of the benefit of its oil reserves, estimated to be the second largest in the world after those of Saudi Arabia.
They have resulted in chronic fuel shortages, with people waiting in line for several hours to fill their cars.
Ghadban said the attacks were not random but part of a deliberate strategy to create fuel shortages in the capital. Ghadban said attacks numbered more than 200 in 2004 and had averaged about 24 per month.
Insurgents deliberately target fuel lines from Kirkuk, Baiji and Nafat Khana to the north that supply Baghdad's main refinery in the southern suburb of Dura, which in turn provides fuel to the capital's main electricity plant, Ghadban said.
Iraq has stopped its imports of gasoline and propane from Syria and Saudi Arabia because of the constant attacks on the drivers, Ghadban said.
01/23/2005 12:44 GMT - AFP