ANKARA, Turkey, June 17 (UPI) -- Ankara expects a third tanker loaded with oil from the Kurdish north of Iraq will leave port before the end of the month, the energy minister said.
Two tankers loaded with oil from the Kurdish north, United Emblem and United Leadership, have left the Turkish port city of Ceyhan in recent weeks.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Monday a third tanker should leave before the end of the month.
"A third tanker is scheduled on June 22 to export the oil coming from northern Iraq," he said.
Neither of the vessels loaded with Kurdish crude oil have made port calls outside of Ceyhan. Exports of Kurdish oil prompted the government in Baghdad to issue a complaint with international arbiters.
The statement from Yildiz comes as Iraq struggles to control an insurgency from Islamist militants who took control over key northern Iraqi cities in recent weeks. Turkey's energy minister said it was difficult to assess how the security situation would impact oil deliveries.
"The oil flow is going on now but in the upcoming period whether these will be interrupted is not foreseeable," he said.
