Persistent acts of sabotage by insurgents shut the northern export pipeline for most of this year
Iraqi oil shipments to the Turkish port of Ceyhan have stopped pending a report on the condition of the pipeline, an Oil Ministry spokesman said, the Associated Press reported today.
Exports from Kirkuk had restarted on Saturday after months of no activity, and Iraq had managed to pump around 250,000 barrels a day of Kirkuk oil to the Turkish port. The shipments from Iraq's North Oil Company were the first in months due to militant attacks on oil facilities.
"The North Oil Co. started pumping oil to Ceyhan as a test to check the condition of the pipelines and they pumped all the crude oil stored for that reason late on Tuesday. There was no problem at all and we are waiting for the reports," spokesman Assem Jihad said. He did not say when oil pumping would resume.
Persistent acts of sabotage by insurgents shut the northern export pipeline for most of this year and last year. Before the U.S.-led invasion the pipeline used to export around 800,000 barrels a day from the north.
Newly appointed Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has said that Iraq was targeting a sustainable export from the north of 50,000 to 100,000 barrels a day.
Iraq currently produces around 250,000 barrels a day in the north.
