Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- An explosion late yesterday halted oil supplies through a pipeline connecting Turkey with oil fields in northern Iraq.

The blast, which occurred around 10 p.m. near the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, resulted in a sudden loss of pressure on the pipeline, according to a spokesman for the state-run pipeline company Botas. He declined to say whether a bomb may have caused the blast.

Botas officials are at the scene of the explosion to inspect damage, the spokesman said. Oil has spilled over a wide area and entered waters below the nearby Ataturk dam, he added.

The pipeline connects the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk with the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey.

Separatist militants in the mainly Kurdish region claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in August.

To contact the report for this story: Mark Bentley in Ankara at mbentley3@bloomberg.net Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at

Last Updated: November 6, 2008 02:05 EST