Blast on pipeline stops Iraq oil flows to Turkey
The explosion occurred late Sunday near the southeastern town of Midyat and damaged the pipeline running from Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, to the Turkish Mediterranean port at Ceyhan, said an official at Turkey’s pipeline company, BOTAS. A second line that runs parallel was not harmed, but has also been shut down temporarily as a precaution, the official said.
The two pipelines carry about 25 million tons of crude oil a year.
The official said authorities suspect the blast was the result of sabotage, but would not elaborate. He only spoke on condition of anonymity because of government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to reporters.
Turkey’s state-run TRT television claimed that the pipeline was blown up by Kurdish rebels who are fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast. A news agency close to the PKK said on its website Monday that the Kurdish insurgents have claimed responsibility for the blast