Technical issue halts oil exportation from Kirkuk to Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The exportation of three oil fields from Kirkuk Province to Ceyhan port in Turkey was halted on Wednesday due to a technical issue, according to the chief engineer at the North Oil Company (NOC).

Farhad Hamza, the head engineer at NOC, told Kurdistan24 the oil exportation from the oil fields of Jabour, Khabaza, and Baba Gurgur to Turkey had been stopped temporarily due to a leak in one of the oil pumpers.

The three oil fields are administrated by the NOC, which is under the control of the federal government of Iraq.

The oil fields have been linked to the Kurdistan Region oil pipeline to Ceyhan port that exports 100,000 oil barrels per day. 

Moreover, both Hamza and a Peshmerga Commander in Kirkuk, Wasta Rasul, rejected rumors about the oil exportation being halted because of political tensions between the Kurdish political parties. 

Hamza mentioned the problem emerged on late Tuesday evening. “We expect the problem to be fixed by Wednesday night,” he said.

The oil exportation from the fields was halted before after a disagreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi federal government.

After the recent visit of the KRG’s delegation to Baghdad, the oil exportation was flawed once again.

In addition to the three oil fields mentioned above, there are other areas in the province that have fallen under the control of the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources.

Since 2014, following the emergence of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in northern Iraq in June, the KRG has acquired several oil fields.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
(Hemin Dalo contributed to this report)