Kurdish separatists claimed responsibility on Thursday for an explosion that has halted the flow of oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, helping to push up oil prices amid uncertainty over the security of the supply route.

Firefighters were still attempting to control the blaze after an explosion near the town of Refahiye in eastern Turkey on Tuesday night. It was the first blast ever reported on the $4bn (€2.6bn, £2.1bn) pipeline carrying more than 1 per cent of world oil supply from Azerbaijan to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.