Iraq expects to restart its northern oil export pipeline in five or six days, ending a stoppage of more than seven weeks because of sabotage attacks, an Iraqi oil official said on Monday. "We think in 5-6 days the northern pipeline will be exporting again," the Iraqi oil official said. Exports have been idle since December 18, when saboteurs blew up a section of the pipeline, which runs from the Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

Oil storage tanks inside Iraq were currently being filled to prepare for pumping, the official said. "The line is now operational," he said. Attacks against Iraqi pipelines, refineries and fuel trucks escalated in the run up to the January 30 elections, especially in Sunni Muslim regions of the north.

Dhiaa al-Bakkaa, head of the State Oil Marketing Organisation has said Iraq could export 250,000 barrels per day through its northern line if the sabotage stopped.

Copyright Reuters, 2005