OSLO, March 27 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil firm DNO has begun storing oil in tanks at fields in the
semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq after Baghdad
ordered a halt to exports via a pipeline to the Turkish port of
Ceyhan.
Iraq on Saturday halted crude exports from its northern
region after the country won an arbitration case in which it
said that Turkey violated a joint agreement by allowing the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to export oil to Ceyhan.
After the ruling Turkey stopped pumping Iraqi crude from the
pipeline, a separate document seen by Reuters showed.
A statement from DNO said it began diverting oil production
from to storage on Saturday and that the tanks can hold "several
days" worth of production.
"DNO notes from public reports that authorities in Ankara,
Baghdad and Erbil are in discussion to reach agreements that
will allow oil exports to resume," the Norwegian company said.
Prior to the shutdown the pipeline carried about 400,000
barrels per day (bpd) of Kurdish oil and another 70,000 bpd of
Iraqi oil to global markets, DNO said.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik
Editing by David Goodman
)
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