First Azeri Oil Leaves Turkey's Ceyhan Since Quakes

The Nordlotus sailed from Turkey's Ceyhan oil export hub loaded with Azeri crude on Monday, the first such shipment since earthquakes hit the region on Feb. 6, ship-tracking data showed and a trading source said.

The tanker carried 682,500 barrels of oil and began loading on Feb. 12, Turkish state energy company BOTAS said in a statement on Monday.

The Alfa Baltica was also shown at a jetty at the Botas Ceyhan oil terminal on Monday and was loading Azeri crude, the trade source said.

The earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria halted operations at Ceyhan, which receives crude supplies from northern Iraq and Azerbaijan.

Loading of Azeri oil at Ceyhan resumed on Sunday, a spokeswoman for BP said. The company declared force majeure on loadings of Azeri crude from Ceyhan on Feb. 8.

The Iraqi crude oil pipeline to Ceyhan resumed flows late on Feb. 7, when Iraqi crude was loaded for the first time since the earthquakes.

(Reuters - Reporting by Rowena Edwards and Can Sezer; Editing by David Goodman and Barbara Lewis)