(Adds details and background throughout) Oct 3 (Reuters) – Crude oil exports from Iraq's Kurdistan region to Turkey's Ceyhan port were halted on Friday because storage tanks had reached capacity, two energy sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. One of the sources said flows stopped at around 1 a.m. local time (2200 GMT) on Saturday after the storage tanks became overloaded, leaving no space for further shipments. The same source said flows were expected to resume between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. once a vessel had completed loading and freed up space. The source cited problems at storage facilities and maintenance work on some of the tanks. Another source confirmed the halt and said there was also an issue with Kirkuk blend being priced too high, complicating sales. Flows resumed on Saturday from the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq to Turkey for the first time in two and a half years, after eight oil companies operating there reached agreements with Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government. The flows are being closely watched by oil markets, where prices have come under pressure from concerns about excess supply. The agreement allowed 180,000 to 190,000 barrels per day of crude to flow to Turkey's Ceyhan port. (Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Ahmed Rasheed. Writing by Enas Alashray Editing by Mark Potter)
(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
