Iraq resumes oil exports via Turkey after Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline outage

Sees no impact on export volumes due to 'additional volumes'

Pipeline outage caused by fallen power pylon: Turkish officials

Iraq-Turkey crude pipeline has been pumping around 500,000 b/d

Iraq has resumed pumping of crude exports via Turkey on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline following an explosion in southern Turkey which temporarily shut the key export route, Iraq's oil ministry said Jan. 19.

The ministry said exports initially resumed at 75,000 b/d but a source from the Kurdistan Regional Government later told Platts that exports "are ongoing" at the same rate as prior to the incident.

In December, exports of Kirkuk crude through the route rose 29% to 87,100 b/d while Kurdish exports increased to 406,000 b/d, according to Iraqi federal oil ministry reports.

Turkey's state pipeline operator Botas completed repairs on the damaged pipeline following an earlier explosion near Kahramanmaras in southern Turkey and oil flows had restarted as of 11:00 local time (08;00 GMT), the company said in a statement.

The pipeline, which can carry up to 600,000 b/d of oil from northern Iraq to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, has previously been targeted by Kurdish separatists and initial news of the incident pushed Brent crude futures to fresh seven-year highs over $88/b.

But Kahhramanmaris governor's office said the explosion was caused by an electricity pylon being blown over by unusually high winds.

Export volumes

Referring to a "stoppage" on the pipeline inside Turkey, the ministry said it does not expect the outage to impact overage export volumes from the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan because "it will be compensated by pumping of additional volumes."

Botas did not identify the cause of the explosion, which occurred at "kilometer 511" near Kahramanmaras but confirmed that it had resulted in a fire that had been extinguished by Botas and local authority personnel.

According to the latest data from Botas, flow through the pipeline in November averaged 485,733 b/d, and over the first 11 months of 2021 averaged 513,871 b/d.

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government exports the vast majority of its crude production via its pipeline to Ceyhan. Iraq's federal government also ships about 100,000 b/d of crude from its Kirkuk fields to Ceyhan through the pipeline.