1. English Edition

Iraq Resumes Crude Oil Pumping To Turkey

Iraq has resumed pumping crude oil from its Kirkuk fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean since Tuesday afternoon following a closure that lasted five days, a Middle East shipping agent said Wednesday.
dj
Τετ, 25 Αυγούστου 2010 - 18:12
Iraq has resumed pumping crude oil from its Kirkuk fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean since Tuesday afternoon following a closure that lasted five days, a Middle East shipping agent said Wednesday.

"The Iraqis resumed the pumping at 1730 local time [1430 GMT] Tuesday," the agent told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Ceyhan.

An official with the Iraqi state-run North Oil Co., which oversees Iraq 's north oil exports, confirmed that the flow was resumed Tuesday.

Iraq usually pumps an average of 400,000 barrels a day via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, the official said. Some extra stocks accumulated over the last few days so the NOC is pumping Wednesday at an average of 600,000 barrels a day to compensate for the shortage, he added. He didn't say how much stock there was but it could be just few million barrels.

The suspension was caused by a leak in the Iraqi section of the pipeline near the city of Mosul , the Iraqi official said. "This time it wasn't sabotage," the official said by telephone from Krikuk in northern Iraq .

The 970-kilometer pipeline, which handles a quarter of Iraq 's total oil exports, has been repeatedly targeted by suspected insurgents in recent months, often halting pumping in Iraq and Turkey .

Earlier this month, an explosion carried out by insurgents who are fighting against the Turkish government, suspended exports via the pipeline for two days.

The pipeline had been mostly idle because of attacks until the end of 2007, when exports resumed on a regular basis because of extra security measures. However, it has come under attack again in the last few months.

Διαβάστε ακόμα