An explosion hit a pipeline carrying oil from Iraq through Turkey, cutting off crude exports from northern Iraq, oil officials in Baghdad said on Thursday, calling the blast an “act of sabotage.” “An explosion occurred about 1:20 am (22:20 GMT) in a pipeline carrying Iraqi oil inside Turkey,” oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP, adding that “the export of oil through Turkey stopped immediately after the incident.” A high-ranking official in Iraq’s North Oil Company said that “Iraqi oil exports through Turkey stopped because the pipeline carrying the oil … was exposed to an act of sabotage.” Exports will be resumed “in the coming hours” via an alternative pipeline, and repairs will be undertaken within 72 hours, the official said. The pipeline, which exports between 400,000 and 450,000 barrels of oil per day, has been the target of periodic attacks. It was hit by an explosion in early February inside Turkey, leading to a halt in exports, which resumed via an alternate pipeline. Kurdish insurgents opposed to Ankara operate in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and across the border in Turkey. Oil sales account for the vast majority of Iraqi government income and around two thirds of gross domestic product.
