Iraq closes Kirkuk oil pumping station due to damage caused by ‘smugglers’
The Iraqi federal government shut an oil pumping station in a Kirkuk oilfield due to a crack in a key crude pipeline, two official sources from the state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) said on Wednesday.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi federal government shut an oil pumping station in a Kirkuk oilfield due to a crack in a key crude pipeline, two official sources from the state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) said on Wednesday.
The oil station has the capacity of producing 12,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The pipeline was closed on Tuesday, but it has not had any impact on the process of oil exports, officials from NOC told Reuters.
The damaged pipeline is estimated to be fixed within 36 hours, they added.
The NOC has already started to investigate the cause of the crack which an initial report by the technical crew links to smugglers who attempted to steal the oil from the pipeline, the sources said.
The halted oil supply was sent to local refineries, but the shutdown has not affected the refineries’ operations as the volume of the supply was small, officials stated.
The disputed province of Kirkuk has some of the oldest and largest oilfields in the Middle East.
Since 2014, Kirkuk’s oil was exported through the Kurdistan Region to Turkey. However, the shipment was halted after the military takeover of Iraqi forces and Shia militias in the province on Oct. 16, 2017.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
