Bomb halts Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline flow

22 Apr 2010 09:07:20 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Three days to resume exports

* Election heightens tensions

(Adds details, background)

BAGHDAD, April 22 (Reuters) - A bomb attack in the northern province of Nineveh damaged the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline which carries a quarter of Iraq's crude exports, Iraqi oil officials and shipping sources said on Thursday.

An Iraqi oil official at the state run North Oil Co said oil exports via the Kirkuk to Ceyhan pipeline were expected to take about three days to resume after the flow was stopped early on Thursday.

A number of police sources said the blast was caused by a bomb.

Another oil official said he could not immediately confirm if the halt was due to sabotage or technical failure.

Iraqi oil in storage at the Turkish port of Ceyhan was about 650,000 barrels, a Turkey-based source said on condition his name was not used.

The blast which occurred south of Mosul in al-Hadhar district, 280 km (175 miles) north of Baghdad, made a hole in the pipeline, a police source told Reuters.

Nineveh, on the frontline between ethnic Kurds in their semi-autonomous northern enclave and Iraq's majority Arabs, remains a stronghold of activity by insurgents, including al Qaeda.

Most of the rest of the country has emerged from the all-out sectarian war unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion but an inconclusive election in March, which produced no outright winner and as yet no new government, has heightened tensions.

The Iraq to Ceyhan pipeline was last attacked in December. Technical problems halted the flow of oil in January for several hours.

The Kirkuk pipeline has a capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) but normally carries about 500,000 bpd to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, where it is pumped into tankers. (Reporting by Jamal al-Badrani and Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad, Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul and Simon Webb in Dubai; Writing by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Keiron Henderson)