ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An explosion on Tuesday night has halted the flow of oil through a pipeline that transports oil from fields in the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk to Turkey, the Turkish state-owned pipeline operator Botas said in a statement.
According to the statement, the pipeline caught fire at 7:30 pm near the city of Kahramanmaras in southern Turkey, adding that the cause of the explosion is yet to be known.
Botas added that the fire had been extinguished and “the oil pipeline will be operational as soon as possible after necessary precautions are taken.”
Exports along the pipeline resumed on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Region's Ministry of Natural Resources.
The Kurdistan Region's minister of natural resources told Rudaw that the incident happened as a result of electrical failure.
"The incident was not a terrorist attack and was a result of an electrical failure," Kamal Atroshi told Rudaw's Sangar Abdulrahman on Wednesday, adding that oil will be temporarily exported through a different pipeline.
"This will not have a large impact on the Kurdistan Region's oil exports," he said.
Rudaw understands that as of Tuesday, the pipeline had transported 415,000 barrels of oil from the Kurdistan Region and 75,000 barrels from Kirkuk
Exports along the pipeline transporting oil from the Kurdistan Region to Ceyhan port in Turkey
The pipeline, running from Kirkuk to Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, has previously faced several sabotages and explosions. Oil flow has previously been halted on several occasions.
The pipeline had in the previous years either been attacked by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on the Turkish side of the border or because of Turkish engagement against the party.
In October 2020, the PKK issued a statement stating they had carried out a “successful sabotage action” on the Botas oil pipeline in Turkey’s Mardin province. “As a result of this action, the pipeline at the site was completely destroyed.”
In 2016, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) lost an estimated $14 million per day because of sabotage on the pipeline, carried out by the PKK. The year before, the KRG blamed the PKK for an attack on the pipeline in Turkey’s Sirnak.
With the sudden cut in oil supply, global oil prices also skyrocketed. Brent Crude hit $89.05 at the early morning hours of Wednesday, the highest it has been in over seven years.
Ceyhan port is the only port through which the KRG sells oil. The KRG exported a total of nearly 80 million barrels of crude oil in the first half of 2021, collecting a net $1.7 billion according to published by the government in December.
There are 52 oil blocks in the Kurdistan Region, 16 of them are in production, and 15 are in exploration phases. Over 30 international and local companies are working in the sector.
The KRG's biggest expense by far is its payroll and it relies mainly on oil sales to pay them, however, a halt in the region’s oil sales could strike a blow to the salaries of the people.
Updated at 3:34 pm
