A key Iraqi oil pipeline closed for almost a year by sabotage is ready to resume daily exports, the US army unit in charge of the project said on Saturday.
Richard Dowling, a spokesman for the Restore Iraqi Oil directorate of the US Army Corps of Engineers, told Reuters that the northern pipeline network, hit by repeated bombings, was again usable.
"There is oil going through the pipeline, but full operation can come only once the oil ministry arranges the sale of exports. This could be happening in a matter of days or weeks," Dowling said.
He said more work was needed before exports from Kirkuk through the Turkish port of Ceyhan could reach the 800,000 barrels per day pre-war levels, but security and technical conditions have improved to allow sustained flows.
Oil traders expect the State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) to market the northern pipeline barrels in a matter of days, but a SOMO official told Reuters no decision has yet been made on when to award sales contracts.
"SOMO does not have plans to market northern crude," said Kadhim Razouki, head of the crude oil department.
Iraq's inability to export northern Kirkuk crude since the US-led invasion last year cost it billions of dollars in revenue and raised questions about the occupied country's ability to rebuild the oil industry and contain insurgents using sabotage to further their political ends.
Success at enlisting tribes to help protect the pipeline and more patrols allowed the first test in over half a year in late February, when supplies of Kirkuk crude at the Ceyhan port swelled to three million barrels.
But officials admit that sabotage attempts are continuing and security is not as tight as it was under Saddam Hussein's rule, when whole army divisions protected the pipeline, seen as the bloodline of Iraq during its 1980-1988 war with Iran.
Oil is now regularly flowing through the pipeline, although the rate fluctuates from 250,000 to 400,000 bpd, industry officials say.
"There is work to be done in the system as a whole before we reach pre-war numbers but any amount is significant and will add to wealth of Iraq," Dowling said.
"The income from oil sales will pay for further improvement and repair," he added.
Shipments over the past week have boosted Kirkuk volumes at Ceyhan to more than 4.5 million barrels, above half of the tankage capacity.
Iraq also has been working on expanding export capacity in the south. The opening of second terminal on the Gulf last month should boost Gulf exports to nearly two million bpd versus February's total 1.5 million bpd, which was curtailed by bad weather.