(Removes reference to Statoil which no longer has stake,paragraph 5)
ANKARA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - An explosion hit Turkey's ShahDeniz pipeline carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan early onTuesday but there was no impact on supply because the flow wasalready suspended for maintenance, a senior Turkish energyofficial said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, but itcomes days after an attack by the PKK Kurdish militant grouphalted the flow in a pipeline carrying crude oil to Turkey fromIraq.
The explosion on the Shah Deniz pipeline took place inTurkey's Posof province near the Georgian border.
British oil major 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.
The PKK attack on the oil pipeline from Iraq came amid awider surge in violence by the PKK, which has targeted Turkishsecurity forces and infrastructure. Turkey launched air strikesagainst PKK camps in northern Iraq just over a week ago. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing byNick Tattersall)
BP (BP.)
