Iraq
has
resumed crude-oil exports from
Kirkuk
oil
fields at a lower rate,
Middle East
shipping agents said Monday, after an explosion that blew up part of the
northern pipeline that carries crude to
Turkey
's
Ceyhan port.
"The flow has resumed at a lower rate of 300,000 barrels a day," a
shipping agent at the Turkish Ceyhan port in the
Mediterranean
, told
Dow Jones Newswires.
Iraq
normally pumps between 400,000 and 450,000 barrels a day, or quarter of its
total oil exports, through that pipeline.
The flow was suspended for few hours Friday after an attack against part of the
pipeline inside
Turkey
, a
shipping agent said. Turkish officials blamed the attack on the separatist
Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has claimed responsibility for past
attacks on the 1,000-kilometer pipeline.
Turkish authorities had to shift the flow to a parallel pipeline, the shipping
agent said.
Some nine vessels are waiting to load at Ceyhan, another shipping agent said,
adding that he doesn't know why the flow was low.
Iraqi oil
officials weren't available to comment.