Iraqi Oil Export Halted For Unknown Reason

The flow of Iraqi oil exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline stopped Tuesday for 17 hours, an official from the Turkish state run BOTAS gas company said.

"The flow halted from 0200 GMT to 1900 GMT," he said, adding that the cause of the halt was some reason like a production problem or power outage in Iraq, but he gave no further details.

He also said the stoppage had nothing to do with Iraq's debt to Turkey.

"It is true that Turkey has claims. But the halt of the flow is not concerned with this debt", he said.