Iraq halts pumping oil from Kirkuk into Turkey pipeline: Sources

BAGHDAD - Reuters

A general view shows pipelines in the newly opened section of the oil refinery of Zubair, southwest of Basra in southern Iraq, on March 3, 2016. AFP Photo

Iraq’s state-run North Oil Company stopped feeding a pipeline to Turkey with crude produced at fields it operates in the Kirkuk region three days ago, two sources said on March 14.

The order to halt pumping through the pipeline came from the oil ministry in Baghdad, a company official, who asked not be identified, said. 

“There is no technical failure, it’s a decision from Baghdad,” he said.

North Oil is continuing to produce the crude, but storing it in Kirkuk instead of exporting it through the pipeline, he said.

The company normally exports 150,000 barrels a day through the pipeline that carries the crude to the Turkish terminal of Ceyhan, passing through territory of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). A KRG official confirmed the pipeline is not receiving crude from North Oil.