KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) - Iraqi oil exports to Turkey were halted after a series of attacks, including a major strike on a pipeline network connecting wells west of Kirkuk with the main export pipeline and refineries further south, oil officials said.
"We stopped exports today at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) because of the attacks and it will take at least 10 days to complete the repair work and resume exports," said an official with the Northern Oil Co., who wished not to be identified.
An AFP correspondent near the scene of the latest attack said huge flames could be seen from about five kilometres (three miles) away.
Explosions hit a network connecting the Khubbaz oil wells with refineries in Baiji and Baghdad, further south, and the main export pipeline running to the northern Turkish terminal of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, said General Turhan Yusif, Kirkuk`s police chief.
"This is one of the most powerful and most serious attacks ever," said the oil official.
"This will affect production and hurt exports and supplies to the local market."
Firefighters, engineers and dozens of security forces rushed to the scene of the attack which occurred close to the village of Sheikh Mizher al-Asi, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) west of Kirkuk, amid fears that the wells themselves may be also on fire from the impact of the attack.
Three similar bomb attacks earlier targeted secondary pipelines connecting to Baiji.
The oil official said that the Baiji refinery which supplies fuel to major power plants in the area is now operating mostly with its crude reserves.
A spokesman for Iraq`s oil ministry in Baghdad said he had no immediate comment on the attacks and the halt in exports.
Although the bulk of Iraq`s oil is produced and exported from fields around the southern city of Basra, the attacks in the north could be a major setback for the country`s efforts to increase production and exports and bring in much-needed hard currency to rebuild its war-ravaged economy.
Iraq is producing an average of about 2.8 million barrels per day of which 2.1 million bpd is from the south, said the country`s Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban on October 21.
Exports have averaged 1.8 million bpd in recent months, he said.
Northern exports only resumed recently after recurring sabotage over the past year and account for a small fraction of the total.
Attacks on Iraq`s oil infrastructure and its import of oil products due to insufficient refining capacity has cost the country seven billion dollars since March 2003, according to Ghadban.
11/02/2004 - 19:36 GMT - AFP