Capacity to Double on Kurdistan's Pipeline

The capacity of Iraqi Kurdistan's independent oil pipeline will almost double to at least 200,000 barrels per day once upgrade work is finished, enabling the semi-autonomous region to boost exports significantly, industry sources and officials said.

Oil revenues are a lifeline for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, whose peshmerga forces are being supported by U.S. air strikes in their battle against the radical Sunni militants of the Islamic State.

"Work to increase the capacity will probably be completed by the end of this month. Once it is completed, pumping can increase to up to 220,000 barrels per day (bpd)," one Turkish official told Reuters.

Other industry sources also said the capacity of the pipeline was set to rise to around 200,000-220,000 bpd from 100,000-120,000 bpd before the flow stopped for upgrade work.

Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Orhan Coskun