Power cuts have halted Iraq's crude oil exports from its southern Gulf terminals and saboteurs blew up domestic crude and gas pipelines in northern Iraq, shipping sources and officials said on Saturday. Loadings at the southern Basra oil terminals stopped on 0845 (GMT) on Friday, disrupting all exports. Flows from the north have been halted for three weeks due to sabotage.
Iraq has the capacity to export about two million barrels per day from its offshore Basra and Khor al-Amya terminals in the Gulf. Power cuts had already stopped exports in the south for 24 hours last month.
Saboteurs blew up domestic oil and gas pipelines in northern Iraq on Saturday and crude exports through Turkey remained disrupted following an earlier attack, oil officials said.
An explosion ripped off a section of an oil pipeline running from northern fields to the 350,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Baiji refinery in the Safra area, around 70 km (43 miles) south-west of Kirkuk, they said.
Two guard posts for an oil protection force composed of tribesmen were blown up around the area and one guard was wounded.
Saboteurs also blew up a gas pipeline in the Fatha area near Baiji, home to Iraq's biggest refinery, the officials said. The gas line feeds the Baiji power plant, they said. One civilian suffered burn wounds in the blast, the officials added.
Attacks against Iraqi oil facilities in northern areas have escalated since US forces attacked the former rebel stronghold of Falluja in November.
The export pipeline to Turkey's Ceyhan port, which can carry 500,000 barrels per day, has also been repeatedly hit. There have been no flows through the line since an explosion damaged it on December 18. Officials expect repairs to take at least another week.
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