Iraq oil flowed to Turkey at the rate of 480,000 barrels per day on Thursday after exports restarted on Wednesday, a shipping agent said.

The pipeline from northern Iraq to Turkey's Ceyhan oil terminal in the Mediterranean is Baghdad's secondary export route. Most of its exports are through the main terminal at Basra in the country's south.

The oil flow through the pipeline to Turkey stopped for a day earlier this week. A vessel was due to complete loading a million barrels of oil at Ceyhan on Thursday for Italian refiner ENI, the agent said.

Another ship was waiting to load 600,000 barrels for Italian refiner Iplom, he added.    Total Iraqi crude in storage stood at around 200,000 barrels on Thursday, the shipper said.

Tighter security has allowed Baghdad to boost the flow through the line since last August. Sabotage and technical problems kept the export route mostly idle until last year following the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.-Reuters