Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Tankers at the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan began loading oil from a BP Plc pipeline, three weeks after an explosion on the link disrupted flows of Azeri crude to international markets.

Two tankers are being loaded and will sail today, Murat Lecompte, an Istanbul-based spokesman for BP, said in an e-mail. Production is increasing at BP's Azeri oil field and all output is feeding the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, he said, declining to specify how much of the link's 1 million-barrel-a-day capacity is being used.

A fire engulfed a Turkish section of the pipeline, which carries Azeri crude from Baku via Georgia to southern Turkey, on Aug. 5, forcing the link's closure and sending global crude prices higher.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, an armed separatist movement responsible for past attacks on energy targets, said it bombed the pipeline in Turkey's eastern Erzincan province. Energy Minister Hilmi Guler denied the claim, saying there was no sign of sabotage.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul at ayackley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 26, 2008 04:45 EDT