The Kirkuk–Ceyhan Oil Pipeline, also known as the Iraq–Turkey Crude Oil Pipeline, is a pipeline that runs from
Kirkuk in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
to
Ceyhan
Ceyhan () is a city and a district in the Adana Province, in southern Turkey, east of Adana. With a population of over 157,000, it is the largest district of the province, outside the city of Adana. Ceyhan is the transportation hub for Middle Ea ...
in Turkey. It is Iraq's largest crude
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
export
An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...
line.
Technical description
The pipeline consists two pipes with diameters of and and designed capacity of respectively. Usable capacity of the line is believed to be only , with significant repairs still required.
[
]
Incidents of sabotage
The line's Iraqi part has been a principal
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
target since 2003.
[
] On 26 October 2009, the blast near
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
halted oil supplies through the pipeline.
[
]
On 16 August 2013, at around 0100 GMT near the al-Shura area 60 km to the south of the city of Mosul a bomb attack damaged the pipeline.
On 3 September 2013, at around 0200 GMT near Ein al-Jahash area, a bomb attack damaged the pipeline.
[
]
Kurdistan Pipeline
In 2013, the
Kurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) ( ku, حکوومەتی هەرێمی کوردستان, ''Hikûmetî Herêmî Kurdistan'') is the official executive body of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.
The cabinet is selected by the m ...
of Iraq completed a pipeline from the
Taq Taq field through
Khurmala (the northwest sector dome of the greater Kirkuk field) and
Dahuk to Pesh Khabur (
Fesh Khabur) on the Turkey-Iraq border, where it is connected to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. This diameter pipeline has capacity of . It allows the export of oil from the Taq Taq and Tawke oil fields.
[
] On 23 May 2014, the Kurdistan Regional Government announced that the first oil transported via the new pipeline was loaded into a tanker at Ceyhan.
[
]
New pipeline proposal
Iraq is considering building a new Kirkuk–Ceyhan pipeline to bypass attack-prone areas and double the export capacity.
[
]
See also
*
Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline
*
Samsun–Ceyhan pipeline
*
Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline
The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is a long crude oil pipeline from the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and Ceyhan, a port on the south-easter ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline
Energy infrastructure completed in 1970
Oil pipelines in Iraq
Oil pipelines in Turkey
Kirkuk
Ceyhan
Iraq–Turkey relations
Economy of Kurdistan Region (Iraq)