BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's Oil Ministry on Saturday ruled out halting oil exports through Turkey due to ongoing military operations on the border, its spokesman said.

""Turkish military operations will not affect pumping oil through this pipeline as both Iraqi and Turkish governments are keen not to halt it,"" Assem Jihad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Iraq's oil exports rose 9.2 percent last year, largely because improved security allowed oil shipments through a key northern pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey's Ceyhan terminal on the Mediterranean Sea.
Total oil exports in 2007 reached nearly 600 million barrels, an average of 1.6 million per day. More than 550 million barrels were exported from Basra while nearly 40 million barrels were exported from the north.
The pipeline, which was often halted in past years due to sabotage, is now pumping more than 300,000 barrels per day.