Iraqi oil pumping resumes to Turkey

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: Oil pumping resumed in the Iraq-Turkish pipeline after an 18-hour hiatus due to a technical breakdown on the Iraqi side, according to a source from the North Oil Company on Sunday. “The pumping rate from Kirkuk to the refineries in Baiji is around 640,000 barrels and then on the to Turkish port of Ceyhan at a rate of 300,000 to 400,000 barrels,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. On Saturday, a source from the company said that Iraqi oil exports to Ceyhan port stopped due to a technical glitch. Exports had stopped for two days last month due to technical problems on the Turkish side. The oil-rich Kirkuk, a city of mixed Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen population, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. AmR (P) 1