Oil flow cut between Iraq and Turkey after explosion

Oil flow was cut in Turkey at the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline following an explosion near the south-eastern province of Kahramanmaraş, state news agency, Anadolu, says.

According to the report, Turkey’s state-owned pipeline operator, Botas, said a fire erupted following the explosion and fire fighters and emergency personnel were deployed to extinguish the blaze.

The reason for the explosion, which occurred close to the 511th kilometre (318th mile) of the pipeline, was unknown, it also said.

No one was hurt in the explosion late Tuesday, near the town of Pazarcik in Kahramanmaras province, Kahramanmaras Mayor, Hayrettin Gungor, said.

“Our efforts to put out the fire are ongoing.”

Authorities also announced that the nearby highway connecting Kahramanmaraş to neighbouring metropolis, Gaziantep, has been cut off to traffic both ways as the fire spread to the route.

The pipeline has come under terrorist attacks before, both by the PKK and Daesh terrorist groups.

The pipeline had been exposed to intensive attacks by the Daesh terrorist group and the attack in 2014 caused the Iraqi side of the pipeline to be closed.

In late September, the Iraqi Oil Ministry announced that Iraq and Turkey are going to reopen the 970-kilometer-long pipeline that transports Iraqi crude from Kirkuk to export facilities in Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast.

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