Kurdish Rebels Claim Responsibility for Oil Pipeline Fire

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Kurdish separatist rebels claimed responsibility yesterday for sabotaging a critical Turkish pipeline, helping push global oil prices back above $120 a barrel.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which brings Azeri oil from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean for westbound shipments, caught fire Tuesday night and Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency said it could remain shut down for up to 15 days. The pipeline can pump slightly more than 1 million barrels of crude oil a day or more than 1% of the world's daily crude output

It was not clear what ignited the blaze and by late yesterday, the fire still had not been fully extinguished.

Global oil prices jumped back above $120 a barrel, rising for the first time in four days after the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party claimed responsibility for sabotaging the pipeline, according to the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat, which often carries the group's statements.