Iraq oil revenues 'invested in Turkey's state bank'

Oil revenues from the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline have been invested in Turkey's state-owned Halkbank, Turkey's energy minister has said.
Speaking in capital Ankara on Monday, Taner Yildiz said that income from the pipeline would continue to be invested in the bank as long as the Kurdish Regional Government continued to supply the oil.
"The first shipload fee of $93 million was invested in Halkbank,"  said Yildiz.
Receipts for the investment were sent to the central government and the Kurdish administration was also being informed about the trade, said Yildiz.
He added: "Three (oil) cargoes have been loaded and sent (from Ceyhan to international markets), and yesterday we started loading a fourth."
'Valuable system'
He said Turkey had established a valuable investment system despite the ongoing chaos in Iraq, and the benefits of it would be understood in time.
Regarding reports of oil being exported from the port of Ceyhan to Israel, he said: "Shiploads may be dispatched to Israel or other routes. We do not deal with where the oil will be sent."
He pointed out that oil could be sold to any country through the markets.
Tanks at Ceyhan, located in the southern province of Adana on the Mediterranean coast, have a storage capacity of 2.6 million barrels of crude oil, which flows via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline.
 The first northern Iraq oil exports were transported from Ceyhan Port to international markets on 22 May.
'Instability affecting markets'
But Baghdad appealed for international arbitration against Ankara, demanding an immediate halt to sales and warning oil companies not to purchase the commodity.
Political instability in Iraq had affected energy markets and oil prices, Yildiz said, adding that before the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched its attacks in Iraq, oil prices per barrel were between $107 and $108, but they had now reached $115.
ISIL seized Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, on 10 June and soon afterwards took near-complete control of the northern cities of Tikrit and Tal Afar.
Sunni Insurgents also attacked the Turkish consulate in the northern city of Mosul on June 11 and took 49 Turkish citizens hostage.
"It is understood oil prices will continue to rise for a while," said Yildiz.
He said Turkey's energy prices had risen by about 6 percent, but the government was "trying to compensate (for the increase) domestically in the country".