KIRKUK, Iraq, Aug 31 (AFP) - Iraq resumed oil exports from the northern region of Kirkuk on Tuesday after securing its first post-war term contract for the crude, an oil ministry official told AFP.
"Our first cargo of Kirkuk oil is being loaded," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that he hoped to seal deals for 300,000 barrels a day in exports through term contracts.
Kirkuk oil was also being pumped at a rate of 600,000 bpd Tuesday to the Turkish terminal of Ceyhan, he said.
Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation had yet to set an official selling price.
Attacks on northern pipelines had so far forced Kirkuk to auction off its crude at Ceyhan in mass tenders, but the deal reached with the Turkish refiner Tupras was the northern Iraqi city's first term contract since the war.
The resumption of sales could indicate that sabotages which have repeated disrupted the country's oil industry are being thwarted and was likely to relieve the southern terminals, which have also suffered a string of recent attacks.
According to a Southern Oil official, exports bounced back to their average level of 1.8 million bpd on Monday despite the latest sabotage attacks.
The Kirkuk deal offers more good news to a nervous oil market, which had already welcomed rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's truce call Monday night by letting the price of a barrel drop below 42 dollars.