Power cuts have halted Iraq's crude oil exports from its southern Gulf terminals and saboteurs blew up domestic crude and gas pipelines in northern Iraq, shipping sources and officials said on Saturday. Loadings at the southern Basra oil terminals stopped on 0845 (GMT) on Friday, disrupting all exports. Flows from the north have been halted for three weeks due to sabotage. Iraq has the capacity to export about two million barrels per day from its offshore Basra and Khor al-Amya terminals in the Gulf. Power cuts had already stopped exports in the south for 24 hours last month. Saboteurs blew up domestic oil and gas pipelines in northern Iraq on Saturday and crude exports through Turkey remained disrupted following an earlier attack, oil officials said. An explosion ripped off a section of an oil pipeline running from northern fields to the 350,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Baiji refinery in the Safra area, around 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, they said. Two guard posts for an oil protection force composed of tribesmen were blown up around the area and one guard was wounded. --More 2213 Local Time 1913 GMT
