Iraqi oil exports through Turkish port of Ceyhan resumed
An oil pipeline between Iraq and Turkey. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Northern Iraq crude oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan were resumed on Tuesday evening after Turkey temporarily halted the pumping due to Monday’s catastrophic earthquake, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq.
Sources mentioned that the Turkish pipeline operator Botas resumed the pipeline operations and the flows of the crude oil returned to the Ceyhan export terminal on the Mediterranean coast late on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.
The KRG relies on its pipeline to Turkey for all of its crude exports, which were around 400 thousand barrels per day in 2022, and which provide the semi-autonomous government with its largest source of revenues.
Oil loadings onto ships in the Ceyhan port, which exports Azerbaijani and Iraqi oil, started around midnight, an official told Bloomberg.
Botas halted flows of Iraqi and Azeri oil through pipelines on Monday to make safety checks following the earthquakes that killed thousands of people in Turkey and Syria and damaged infrastructure and housing, Bloomberg mentioned.
Iraq’s full-month exports from the port won’t be affected, according to an official with knowledge of the matter. Baghdad sends 75 thousand barrels a day to Ceyhan, while the Kurdistan region sends about 400 thousand barrels a day, Bloomberg added.