1. (U) This cable contains an action request. See para 3.




2. (C) MFA Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Alev
Kilic and Director General For Energy Hakki Akil told Econ
Couns May 15 that, as the MFA had told us previously
(reftel), the lack of oil flow in the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik
pipeline was having a corrosive affect on the pipe and the
storage tanks at Ceyhan. Econ Couns emphasized that the
quickest way to get Iraqi oil flowing again was passage of
the U.N. sanctions lift resolution, and again urged full
Turkish support of that resolution. Kilic and Akil responded
that the corrosive affect was increasingly daily and this
could not wait "two to three weeks."




3. (C) Action request: We cannot confirm that the corrosive
impact is significant and increasingly daily, as the MFA
claims. Post would appreciate any guidance Department could
provide to the MFA's inquiry on this issue, and on the
technical aspects of the MFA's claim.
PEARSON