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Oil revenues are a lifeline for the Kurdish
Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, whose peshmerga
forces are being supported by U.S. air strikes in their battle
against the radical Sunni militants of Islamic State.
"Work to increase the capacity will probably be completed by the
end of this month. Once it is completed, pumping can increase to
up to 220,000 barrels per day (bpd)," one Turkish official told
Reuters.
Industry sources also said the capacity of the pipeline, which
began operating at the start of this year, was set to rise to
around 200,000-220,000 bpd from 100,000-120,000 bpd before the
flow stopped for upgrade work.
The KRG began independently exporting its crude via the Turkish
Mediterranean export terminal of Ceyhan in May, a move that has
infuriated Baghdad, which claims the sole authority to manage
Iraqi oil.
Baghdad has tried to block KRG's oil sales and prevented some
cargoes from discharging through legal action, but the Kurdish
enclave has managed to load seven export cargoes from Ceyhan,
according to Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz.
So far, 7.8 million barrels of Kurdish oil have flowed through
the independent pipeline, of which 6.5 million have been loaded
onto tankers for export.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Orhan Coskun; Editing by Nick
Tattersall and Jane Baird)
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