(Reuters) - Crude oil flows through the Iraqi Kurdish pipeline to Turkey’s port of Ceyhan are no longer being blended as one grade, a shipping source said on Thursday.

Prior to the retaking of Kirkuk oilfields by Iraqi forces from Kurdish Peshmerga, oil was blended and the combined rate was about 600,000 barrels per day.

Now the oil is being dispatched in separate lots, divided by pipeline cleaning.

So far, 90,000 barrels of Kirkuk crude has been dispatched separately from the rest to be sent to tanks owned by Baghdad.

Meanwhile Kurdish flows are around 220,000-240,000 barrels per day.