Yildiz: No risk to Turkey’s oil supply from Iraqi violence
“The latest developments in Iraq related to the energy sector do not affect Turkey’s crude oil security supply,” Yıldız said on June 13, seeking to assuade rising concerns.
The extending control of the jihadist militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq, from where Turkey receives a considerable share of its oil supply, has sparked worries over the security of the pipelines and production fields.
Yıldız said the flow of oil at the Kirkuk-Yurmutalık pipeline, which is now controlled by ISIL, had been suspended for the past three months.
The oil flow through the line has been halted due to a series of violent attacks over the past few months.
Kirkuk, a major oil city in northern Iraq, was taken by the forces of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from the central Iraqi authority on June 12.