ANKARA, August 25, 2008 (AFP) - A major fire-damaged oil pipeline carrying crude from Azerbaijan to Turkey was up and running again on Monday after repairs, industry sources told AFP.

'Tests were completed over the weekend. The pipeline is back in service,' said an Istanbul-based member of the British energy giant BP, which operates the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan line (BTC).

An official of the Turkish petroleum company Botas, which runs the Turkish section of the line, confirmed the conduit was 'operational' and the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan was ready to start shipping oil again.

'The tanks at Ceyhan have been filled and petrol exports can recommence,' said the official, who asked not to be named.

The BTC, the world's second-longest pipeline at 1,774 kilometres (1,109 miles), was inaugurated in 2006 and carries Azeri oil from the Caspian Sea fields to Ceyhan. It can transport 1.2 million barrels of crude per day.

It was shut on August 5 after a blast in a pump at a section in eastern Turkey sparked a fire.

Kurdish rebels fighting against the Ankara government claimed responsibility for the blast, though Turkish officials said they found no indication of foul play.

The conduit faced further risks when tensions in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia escalated into a full-blown military conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi this month.