Iraqi oil exports were down in June in part because of terrorist activities targeting a northern pipeline, the Ministry of Oil announced.
Iraqi Ministry of Oil spokesman Assim Jihad said oil exports from southern ports at 72.8 million barrels for June. No oil marketed by the State Organization for Marketing of Oil left from a northern oil pipeline.
"Export from the Kirkuk- Ceyhan pipeline was stopped because of the terrorist actions," he said in a statement Thursday.
Iraqi oil exports so far this year peaked at 80 million barrels in May. A Sunni-led insurgency emerged shortly afterward, putting pressure on the central government in Baghdad.
In June, the militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria said they took control over the Baiji oil refinery north of Baghdad, a facility that feeds the local market.
Marketing data show oil exports from the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline peaked in November at 9.2 million barrels. No oil has flowed from the pipeline since May.
Global oil prices increased in the immediate wake of the ISIS attacks, though markets have since relaxed.
Jamie Webster, a research director at IHS Energy, said the Sunni-led insurgents would have to push through to the predominately Shiite south of Iraq to have any major impact on the country's oil export potential.
Most of Iraq's oil leaves through the southern port city of Basra.
