Oil has stopped flowing through Iraq's recently reopened export pipeline to Turkey after it was hit by a blaze, the US Army said today.
"The Baiji pipeline was disrupted by a fire which was contained as of one hour ago. It took some 24 hours to extinguish it," said Lt-Col William MacDonald, chief public affairs officer of the 4th Infantry Division.
"There is nothing going through the pipeline right now because repairs were needed after it reopened," added Colonel Robert Nicholson, chief engineer for the 4th Infantry Division based in the north.
There was no immediate indication of the cause of the fire.
It was not clear how long it would take to revive the pipeline, which had begun moving Iraq's Kirkuk crude for the first time since exports were revived following the war that toppled Saddam Hussein on April 9th.
The damage to the Iraq-Turkey pipeline is the latest setback to efforts to rebuild Iraq's oil industry and generate revenues for reconstruction after years of wars and economic sanctions under Saddam.
Iraq had struggled for months to repair its northern oil export pipeline after a spate of sabotage blasts.
Colonel Nicholson said aside from technical problems from the pressure after the pipeline reopened, there was also other damage over the past few days that may have been from either sabotage or looting.
Sabotage is not the only problem. Iraq also faces the challenge of keeping oil flowing through a pipeline that has suffered from a lack of investment due to 13 years of economic sanctions.
"There is a section with several things wrong. There has been no capital investment for at least 12 years. There were also unwise practices in the haste to get the oil out," Colonel Nicholson said. "There is some water intrusion. The system is in disrepair."
Iraq had been exporting all of its oil from the south before the northern pipeline opened again. But the southern region is also facing problems. Theft of power lines has halved exports and threatens to bring sales to a standstill.