(Removes reference to Statoil which no longer has stake,paragraph 6)
ANKARA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Kurdish militants attackedTurkey's Shah Deniz pipeline carrying natural gas fromAzerbaijan early on Tuesday, but the blast did not impact supplyas flow had already been halted for maintenance, the energyminister said on Tuesday.
The blast came days after another attack by the outlawedKurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) halted flows along a pipelinecarrying crude oil to Turkey from Iraq.
"With last night's attack, the separatist terrororganisation (PKK) has once again shown that they aim to preventour people from accessing their most basic needs," EnergyMinister Taner Yildiz said in an e-mailed statement.
The explosion on the Shah Deniz pipeline took place inTurkey's Posof province near the border with Georgia early onTuesday.
Britain's BP said on Monday it had suspendedoperations on the Shah Deniz platform in the Caspian Sea as wellas the Shah Deniz facility inside the Sangachal terminal forplanned maintenance from Aug. 2.
Shah Deniz, Azerbaijan's biggest gas field, is beingdeveloped by partners including BP, Azeri state energy companySOCAR and others.
There has been a surge in violence by the PKK againstTurkish security forces and infrastructure since mid-July.Turkey launched reciprocal air strikes against PKK camps innorthern Iraq on July 24. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; writing by Ece Toksabay; editing byJonny Hogg and Jason Neely)