Turkey says can halt Kurdish exports amid independence vote Supply gap could emerge in market as early as 2018: Citigroup U.S. crude was back in a bull market Tuesday as Turkey threatened to shut down Kurdish oil exports in response to the region’s independence vote, while Trafigura Group and Citigroup Inc. added to warnings of a looming supply squeeze. Turkey can “ close the valves ” on oil shipments from Kurdistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Ankara opposes an independent Kurdish state and has enormous economic leverage because the export pipeline runs through Turkey to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. There’s a risk of a market squeeze emerging as early as 2018 because of weaker investment in exploration and development, Citigroup’s head of commodities research said. Oil has gained more than 10 percent this month on forecasts for rising crude demand and as members of the Organization of […]