Baghdad (AsiaNews) –  At the end of January there was much talk about the reopening of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan (Turkish Mediterranean port) pipeline, closed last year after it was sabotaged. Currently, Iraq exports its own crude oil only from southern oil fields. The revival of Iraqi crude exports from Kirkuk has caused a stir in the oil industry and even a lowering of prices.

Terrorist attacks on Feb. 1 in Iraqi Kurdistan once again have caused a veil of silence to be drawn over the issue.       

Last Jan. 25, Manaa Al-Obaydi, general director of North Oil Co., the Iraqi company which manages the pipeline, said the pipeline was technically ready to go. "We can start exporting now if the oil minister decides so," he said. The entire course of the Kirkuk pipeline, the vital artery for Iraqi crude exports in the Mediterranean, is guarded and checked by the private British company, Erinys International Ltd.  

For greater protection, Iraq's oil minister has placed 5000 guards along the course of the pipeline, under the command of American colonel, Tom O'Donnell. The pipeline is protected by a sophisticated ground and sky level motion detection system, thanks to the remote-controlled drone airplanes. There are also day and nighttime checks of the ground where the pipeline is buried.   

All systems are go, that is, until the pipeline is reopened. The go-ahead from the Iraqi provisional government oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr Al-Oulum, is still pending.    

The return of Iraqi crude oil exports from the north allows 320,000 more barrels a day to be reintroduced into the market. This is manna from heaven for Iraq, which is in huge need of funds to accelerate the country's reconstruction process.