(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The fire, which is of an unknown origin, broke out at Ninawa, some 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of Kirkuk, and forced the complete shutdown of the pipeline, a Northern Oil Company official told AFP on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
"A technical team has been sent to the site to determine the causes of the fire and whether it was due to a technical failure or an act of sabotage," the official went on to say.
Earlier in August 2010, in a similar incident, Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline was targeted by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) group, which left two people killed and wounded one more.
The pipeline transports 450,000 to 500,000 barrels of Iraq's crude oil to Turkey on a daily basis.
Iraq produces 2.6 million barrels of crude oil per day, of which some two million barrels are exported.
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