Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kirkuk Oil Exports at Risk as Kurds Seize Pump Station

Mar 2, 2017 | Khalid Al Ansary, Kadhim Ajrash, and Sam Wilkin, Bloomberg
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Iraqi oil shipments of about 105,000 barrels a day were halted briefly on Thursday after Kurdish troops seized control of a pumping station in disputed Kirkuk province and demanded that crude shipments to the country’s central government be stopped. Oil from Kirkuk stopped flowing into a Kurdish-built export pipeline to Turkey after fighters loyal to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan political party took control of the province’s main pumping station, Najat Hussein, a member of Kirkuk’s oil, energy and industry committee, said by phone. The shipments resumed several hours later, he said.