Iraq's troubled pipeline shut for repairs (Kirkuk-Ceyhan)

[Barrett808]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's sabotage-prone northern pipeline has been shut down for maintenance, halting crude oil exports from Kirkuk oil fields to Turkey's Ceyhan port, the oil minister said Sunday.

Hussein al-Shahristani said the flow is expected to resume in two to three days at an average of 400,000 barrels per day.

The pipeline was shut down Friday morning because there was not enough crude at Kirkuk reservoir, an oil official told Dow Jones Newswires on Saturday.

Regular insurgent bombings of the crucial northern export pipeline have idled it for all but a few brief periods since the war began.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060709/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_pipeline_repairs

[Kagemusha]

1. Isn't that a hoot. The insurgents leave it alone for a while

and now they have to shut it down...

[Sven77]

2. do you think this will raise oil prices ?

keeping the oil offline keeps prices up and profits up for the oil companies.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. No, this pipeline has mostly been offline for years

Only recently the bad boys have stopped sabotaging it,

[leveymg]

3. Teenagers are "troubled". Pipelines get blown up. Silly headline.

[daleo]

5. This doesn't sound like a maintenance issue

It sounds like a "not enough oil" issue.

"The pipeline was shut down Friday morning because there was not enough crude at Kirkuk reservoir, an oil official told Dow Jones Newswires on Saturday."