Eric Watkins
Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 5 -- Iraq resumed sending 430,000 b/d of oil through its pipeline to Turkey on Dec. 4 after flow was shut down on Dec. 1 due to technical problems.
"Oil is flowing at around 18,000 bbl/hr," reported a shipping agent, following the 2-day halt said by Turkish officials to have been caused by an unidentified technical fault on a section of pipeline in Iraq.
The line had begun carrying oil on Dec. 1, after the completion of repairs to damage caused by an explosion and fire on Nov. 21 in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel group claimed responsibility for the Nov. 21 bomb attack, which triggered the large fire that stopped flow along the Kirkuk-Ceyhan line.
Turkish authorities confirmed that the blast appeared to be caused by sabotage, although they said an investigation was ongoing (OGJ Online, Dec. 1, 2008).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
