Iraq’s announcement that it has started crude exports from a third floating terminals has come in line with the sharp increase in exports in recent months from the south of the country.

Ministry of Oil spokesman Assim Jihan said that the government had started up a new terminal with an export capacity of 800,000 barrels a day (b/d), adding to the two existing terminals with the same capacity.

The ministry is planning to establish three marine pipelines with four terminals – and a possible fifth depending on investment from Japan – and is aiming to raise exportation capacity to 4.5 million b/d.

The start-up is timely given the surge in oil exports from the country’s southern Basra oil fields this year. Ministry data shows that Basra crude exports increased to 2.58 million b/d in April compared with 2.04 million b/d at the start of the year, in an increase of 26 per cent.

However, exports from the northern oil hub of Kirkuk have ground to a halt, with zero exports in April and May compared with an average of 260,000 b/d in 2013.

The pipeline from Kirkuk to the port of Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast – which can pump as much as 400,000 b/d – has been out of action since March due to terrorist attacks.

To add to Baghdad’s problems in the north of the country, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) claims it has recently started its first independent oil sales to Turkey.

The Iraqi central government considers this a breach of contract and is suing Turkey and its state-owned pipeline operator Botas in an attempt to stop the exports, which it says are unauthorised.

In addition to the request for arbitration to cease pipeline exports, the ministry has is also seeking financial compensation from Turkey and Botas that it estimates at more than $250m.

Iraqi revenues from crude exports have also increase in recent months. The oil ministry reported total export revenues from Basra at $8.07bn for May compared with $7.07bn in an increase of 14 per cent.

Revenues for May were the highest since August 2013 when export values reached a peak of $8.36bn.