(Adds details from paragraph 3) ISTANBUL, Nov 5 (Reuters) - An explosion on the Turkish section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline cut its oil flow late on Wednesday, reported state-run news agency Anatolian. Authorities at Turkey's state-owned pipeline company Botas turned off the valves on the pipeline after the immediate loss in pressure following the explosion, Anatolian reported. The explosion left a four-metre (13-foot) wide crater in the ground near the pipeline, and Botas teams were working on the site of the blast, Anatolian said. The cause of the blast was not yet known. An blast on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in August was claimed by the ethnic separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and led to renewed concerns over security in the country that is aiming to become an energy hub for oil and natural gas. The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline was flowing at 480,000 barrels per day last month from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. (Reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki speaks during the opening ceremony of the Islamic, Christian dialogue conference in Baghdad November 3, 2008. REUTERS/Iraqi government/Handout (IRAQ) ...
