Blasts halts Iraq oil exports to Turkey

Militants on Tuesday bombed a major pipeline carrying oil from northern Iraq to Turkey, stopping exports, a senior official from the North Oil Company official said. The blast occurred near the town of Albu Jahash in Nineveh province, the official said, adding that production is still continuing, but the oil is being stored instead of exported. Repairing the pipeline is expected to take between one and three days, the official said. The 970-kilometre (600-mile) pipeline runs from Iraq's northern oil hub of Kirkuk to the port of Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. There have been dozens of attacks on the pipeline so far this year, disrupting northern exports. Oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said earlier this month that Iraq intends to build a new pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish border, because the existing one has been repeatedly attacked and to increase Iraq's export capacity. Iraq is dependent on oil exports for the lion's share of its government income, and is seeking to dramatically ramp up its sales in the coming years to fund the reconstruction of its battered infrastructure.