Turkey resumes oil flow after blasting in Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline

ANKARA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) — Turkish state pipeline operator on Wednesday resumed crude oil flow through Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline after a fire caused by an explosion of the pipeline on Tuesday night in the southeastern city of Kahramanmaras.

Turkey’s Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) said the fire that broke out as a result of the explosion at the 511th km of the Iraq-Turkey crude oil pipeline in the Narli neighbourhood of the Pazarcik district was completely extinguished.

“All necessary precautions have been taken by BOTAS teams and the oil flow has been resumed,” said the written statement, giving no information for the cause of the blast.

The 970-km pipeline carries crude from the oil hub of Kirkuk in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region to Turkey’s port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea for export to international markets.

The pipeline normally pumps 450,000 to 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline was targeted several times by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkish territory and by the Islamic State (IS) inside Iraq in previous years.

The shutdown may have further risked current supply disruptions in international energy markets, as crude prices hit multi-year highs in recent weeks.

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