Tikrit, Aug 16: A raging oil fire and pipeline faults had stopped all oil flow from Iraq to turkey today just three days after the pipeline between the two countries was reopened, the military said. US soldiers were helping Iraqi oil workers contain a fire that had been burning since yesterday outside the northern town of Baiji on a section of the 950-kilometer pipeline from the northern city of Kirkuk to the Turkish city of Ceyhan. "There is no oil flowing into Turkey right now," Col. Bobby Nicholson, Chief Engineer for the 4th Infantry Division. The Army and Turkish oil officials would investigate the cause of the explosion that set off the blaze once the fire was extinguished, he said. He said it was impossible to say when the oil would resume flowing because engineers had to test alternate pipes to see if they worked. Problems were detected in the lines - which cannot handle pressure change due to years of corrosion - after the pipeline reopened on Wednesday, Nicholson said. In an important postwar milestone, Turkish officials said 350,000 barrels of oil was pumped through the pipeline that day.

"The original problems were due to material faults, but the most recent stoppage was caused by the explosion and fire," he said.

The pipeline stoppage highlights the challenges facing the us army as it battles alongside Iraqis to keep oil flowing through a crumbling network of pipe that could spring hundreds of leaks at any moment, Nicholson said.


Bureau Report