ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The sabotage of the Kurdistan Region-Turkey crude oil pipeline has reduced the level of OPEC's oil outputs in February according to analysts. "The cessation the Kurdistan Region Government's oil exports has had a negative effect," for OPEC's production level, said Oliver Jakob, the managing director of PetroMatrix GMbh. It is because "the proportion of the KRG's oil exports has increased the level of oil production in Iraq which saw to an overall increase of OPEC's oil output in 2015." "The oil of Kurdistan Region was available in large volumes and met demands of the world market," Jakob added. That was before February 17 when oil exports were put on hold following the sabotage of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. The perpetrators have yet to be identified. It will remain delayed for an additional two weeks due to security threats to the pipeline which runs through Turkey's Kurdish southeast where the Turkish state is once again engaged against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Reuters reported earlier this week. A reported $14 million is being lost a day. About 600,000 barrels of oil were sent through that pipeline daily, according to KRG officials. This is the longest period in the last two years for oil to be delayed and comes at a time when the Kurdistan Region is heavily reliant on oil revenue to deal with various economic issues on the domestic front, from combating Islamic State to paying civil servant salaries to hosting nearly two million displaced persons from across Iraq. Russia, the OPEC nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela recently announced that they had agreed to freeze oil output so it would consistently stay at January levels. According to data released by OPEC authorities about the oil production of member states in February Saudi Arabia has limited its oil productions. This demonstrably shows that country is serious about freezing its oil outputs in coordination with Russia, Venezuela and Qatar when it comes to limiting the amount of oil availabe on the international market. Additionally Iraq said it was also ready to comply "with any decision that contributes to propping up oil prices," according to a source in that country's oil ministry.
