Back in flow: Kirkuk pipeline
Kirkuk pipe back on line
The Kirkuk pipeline that takes Kirkuk crude oil from Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan resumed pumping earlier today, ending a one-week halt, a shipping source said.
The pipeline normally carries about a quarter of Iraq's oil exports, or around 500,000 barrels per day.
It was the first reported stoppage on the line since April.
"It restarted this morning," the shipping source told Reuters.
Oil trading sources have said the loading of tankers at Ceyhan had been delayed because of the stoppage.
The shipping source said there were still four vessels waiting at the port.
Pumping was halted a week ago after a bomb planted by suspected insurgents damaged a section of the pipeline in the blast near Mosul, 390 kilometres north of Baghdad, according to Turkish police and government officials.
Sabotage and technical problems kept the Iraq-Turkey route mostly idle until 2007 following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Flows have increased since 2007, partly due to tighter security.