Iraqi oil flow resumes on pipeline to Turkey

ANKARA: The flow of Iraqi crude oil via pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean coast resumed on early Friday after a halt due to a leak on Tuesday, a Turkish official told Reuters.

The leak occurred late on Monday on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries some 350,000 barrels of oil per day from Iraq's northern oilfields. Exports were not affected because enough crude was available in storage at the Turkish port of Ceyhan to continue loading ships.

The flows on the pipeline, which has an official capacity of 1.6 million bpd, are regularly interrupted due to technical problems as well as to attacks by insurgent groups on both sides of the border.

The pipeline carries about a quarter of Iraq's total exports.