Explosion shuts Iraqi oil pipeline

A pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to world markets has been shut by authorities due to an explosion in Turkey.

Local media reports cited Kurdish rebels as the cause of the blast, which is the second such incident in two weeks.

Turkey’s pipeline company, BOTAS, said the explosion occurred late on 5 August 2012 near the south-eastern town of Midyat, and damaged the pipeline running from Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, to the Turkish Mediterranean port at Ceyhan

As a precaution, the company officials have shut down a parallel second line, which has not been harmed.

The two pipelines carry about 25 million tons of crude oil a year.

Kurdish insurgents have claimed responsibility for the blast according to a news agency close to the rebels, reports the Associated Press.

Repair work on the pipeline is about to begin and oil flows through the damaged pipeline will resume within the week.

The second pipeline will also become operational again.