Turkey halts oil exports after earthquakes: Update

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The Turkish government has declared a state of emergency after two huge earthquakes hit the southeast of the country near the border with Syria, leaving hundreds dead and disrupting oil exports from the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

A 7.8 magnitude quake struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep in the early hours of today, 6 February, and was felt as far away as Lebanon and Cyprus. A second earthquake measuring 7.5 hit the same region a few hours later, according to the US Geological Society.

The latest death toll is almost 1,300. Turkish president Recep Erdogan said at least 912 people have been killed in Turkey and Syria's state news agency Sana said 371 people are dead in Syria.

Operations at Ceyhan, a major oil export terminal on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, have been suspended as a precaution. Ceyhan receives crude from two major cross-border pipelines — the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline carries oil from fields offshore Azerbaijan across Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, while the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline transports oil from northern Iraq. A spokesman for northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government said operations at Ceyhan will resume once an inspection has been finalised. Turkish pipeline operator Botas said neither pipeline has been damaged.

The Ceyhan terminal exported just over 1mn b/d of crude in January, according to Vortexa. This included around 665,000 b/d of Azeri crude through the BTC pipeline and 395,000 b/d of Iraq's Kirkuk blend through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline.

Operations at the port of Dortyol — which sits across the Bay of Iskenderun from Ceyhan — are also suspended until further notice, according to shipping sources. Around 1.9mn t of oil products, LPG and biofuels were exported from the port last year, while almost 3mn t were imported, according to Vortexa. Fuel oil made up 41pc of the exports, while LPG accounted for 57pc of the imports. Diesel and gasoil took a 29pc share of exports and 27pc of imports.

Dortyol is a bunkering hub, servicing vessel traffic calling at nearby ports for crude and dry bulk voyages. It also has storage and blending facilities.

By James Keates, Aydin Calik and Robert Harvey