KIRKUK: Iraq’s Kurdish region resumed pumping oil to Turkey on Friday, more than three weeks after the pipeline was closed due to Turkish military operations, senior oil company officials said.
The interruption had aggravated a deep financial crisis for the autonomous administration as Kurdistan usually exports about 600,000 barrels per day via Ceyhan in Turkey.
“Oil pumping from Kirkuk oil fields towards Ceyhan port resumed today,” a senior North Oil Company official told AFP. “The pumping has resumed but it should reach its full capacity at midnight after a testing phase,” he said.
The pipeline to Ceyhan had been closed since February 17 due to military operations by Ankara in eastern Turkey. The outage was the longest break in exports for the Kurdistan region since the Islamic State group launched its offensive across Iraq in mid-2014.
