Turkey's BTC resumes crude loadings at Ceyhan after earthquake halt

Export loadings at the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from Turkey have resumed from Ceyhan, a spokesman for operator BP said Feb. 12, after earthquakes hitting Turkey and Syria disrupted flows since Feb. 6.

"Tanker loadings at Ceyhan terminal have been resumed," the spokesman said.

BP operates the 1.2 million bpd Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries crude from Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli field and condensate from Shah Deniz across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

The confirmation follows a statement an Iraqi oil ministry official to S&P Global Commodity Insights on Feb. 11 that flows of Iraqi Kirkuk crude are set to fully resume.

"Pumping is gradually increasing to normal operation," an Iraqi oil ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "From today, we are ready to begin loading."

Tankers have already been loading Kurdish-origin crude from Ceyhan since Feb. 8 from storage tanks.

Turkey's energy ministry said Feb. 8 it was repairing damage to the main oil export pipeline from Iraq to Ceyhan and hoped to restart export flows in two or three days.

Berths 1 and 2 at the Ceyhan terminal, which normally load Iraqi Kirkuk crude, were damaged by the Feb. 6 earthquake but have now been repaired, the oil ministry source said.

In January, Iraq exported 80,000 b/d of Kirkuk crude via Turkey, up from 72,000 b/d in December, data from Iraqi state marketer SOMO showed.

The Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline -- also referred to as the Kirkuk-Ceyhan line -- is one of two major oil pipelines which feeds the 1 million b/d Ceyhan terminal, a key export route for Mediterranean-based refiners.