ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region Government's (KRG) Ministry of Oil and Natural Resources announced on Saturday that exporting of crude oil from the Kurdistan region to Turkey’s Ceyhan port via pipeline resumed late Friday.
The flow of oil to the Turkish port was halted on September 25 following theft from the pipeline in Turkey.
The thieves struck the pipeline near Urfa on the first day of the Eid holiday.
"Persistent theft from the Iraq-Turkey crude oil pipeline in the southeast of Turkey continues to damage the welfare of the people of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq at a critical time for their security and stability," read an announcement by the oil ministry.
Revenue from crude oil exports through the pipeline to Ceyhan is the Kurdistan region’s main means of survival. Without such revenue, salaries of Peshmerga, the security forces and other key government workers cannot be fulfilled, said the ministry.
“These treacherous acts of theft and sabotage harm the ability of Kurds across the region to fight Islamic State terrorism," the ministry added.
The KRG called once again on the perpetrators and those who profit from the theft to immediately halt their criminal activities.
