Pipeline sabotage halts oil exports from Iraq

BAGHDAD: Oil exports from northern Iraq have been halted by sabotage to the pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said on Sunday.

"A 55 kilometre (34 mile) section of the pipeline was damaged in the attack, causing a large oil spillage. Exports have stopped and technicians from the northern oil company (NOC) have gone to the site to survey the damage," Jihad said.

The attack took place around 325 km (200 miles) north of Baghdad.

All of Iraq's crude oil exports from the north flow through the pipeline to Ceyhan, which has been repeatedly targeted by bombings since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Improved security along the pipeline has since limited the number of disruptions and allowed oil exports from the north to surge.