Turkey halts oil exports after earthquakes: Update 2

Updates death toll, adds information on infrastructure closures

The Turkish government has declared a state of emergency after two huge earthquakes hit the southeast of the country near the border with Syria, killing more than 2,700 people 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 over 2,700, with Turkish health minister Fahrettin Koca reporting 1,651 have been killed in Turkey and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying 1,083 are dead in Syria.

Crude loading at Ceyhan, a major oil export terminal on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, has been suspended, with a security agent at the port telling Argus that several staff did not come into work today because of the earthquakes. Ceyhan receives crude from two major cross-border pipelines — the 1.2mn b/d Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline carries oil from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan across Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, while the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline transports oil from northern Iraq.

Traders said crude is still being pumped through the BTC pipeline and being put in storage at Ceyhan. A spokesman for northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government said operations at Ceyhan will resume once an inspection has been completed. 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. The nearby port of Iskenderun is closed but the port of Mersin, west of Ceyhan, is open, according to shipping sources. Turkey's main refineries are located across the other side of the country and have not been affected.

By James Keates, Aydin Calik and Robert Harvey