The devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday halted operations at Turkey’s largest oil export hub in Ceyhan and halted key crude flows from Iraq and Azerbaijan through the KRG pipeline, officials said, Archyde.com reported. .ro.
Oil pipelinePhoto: philipus / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
Shipping agency Tribeca said in a notice that the BTC terminal in Ceyhan, which exports Azeri crude oil, will be closed until Wednesday pending an assessment of the damage.
Azerbaijan uses the Turkish port of Ceyhan as its main crude oil export hub, with a flow of around 650,000 barrels per day (bpd).
BP Azerbaijan said a “small” oil leak was found at Ceyhan, which led to the shutdown of operations.
A source familiar with Azeri oil flows said there was sufficient storage capacity in Ceyhan and Azerbaijan, and a second source said flows might be reduced if necessary.
Three sources with direct knowledge added that the BTC pipeline was not damaged and that Azerbaijan’s stockpiles at Sangachal, south of Baku, might alone allow current production levels to continue for four days.
After Monday’s earthquake, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) halted flows through the pipeline it operates, which runs from the Kirkuk fields in northern Iraq to Ceyhan, the region’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) said.
The KRG was pumping 400,000 bpd and Iraq’s federal government was pumping 75,000 bpd through the pipeline, an oil industry source told Archyde.com.
Oil exports will resume “following a thorough inspection of the pipelines is completed,” the MNR said in a statement.
Most oil producers have a few days of storage capacity, so KRG production should continue in the short term, the oil industry source added.
The eastern Mediterranean terminal of Ceyhan is regarding 155 km from the area where the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on Monday morning, killing more than 2,400 people as buildings collapsed.
It was the largest earthquake to hit Turkey this century and was followed in the early followingnoon by another large earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7.
Turkey’s state-owned pipeline operator BOTAS said natural gas flows to Gaziantep, Hatay and Kahramanmaras provinces and other districts were halted following damage to a gas transmission line.
Residents in the northern provinces of Iraq said they felt a slight tremor following the earthquake.
