Blast hits Iraq-Turkey line
23 April 2012
Oil flow was disrupted on April 5 following an explosion on one of the two pipelines linking crude from Kirkuk in Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.
A Turkish security official meanwhile said there were three near simultaneous explosions at separate points along the pipeline in the Idil area of Turkey's Sirnak province, close to the border with Iraq.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the blasts but sabotage is common on oil and gas pipelines leading into Turkey from Iran and Iraq, where Kurdish separatist militants operate.
The pipeline, which carries a quarter of Iraq's crude exports, from the northern Kirkuk oilfield to Ceyhan, has been repeatedly attacked. It has a capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day and typically pumps 500,000 bpd.