BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Oil exports to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey resumed on Saturday after a week-long interruption because of sabotage to a pipeline in northern Iraq, an oil ministry spokesman said.

"Exports resumed today at 2:30 pm (1130 GMT). Repairs were completed faster than we had expected," Assem Jihad told AFP.

"We thought the work would be slowed down because of the Eid al-Adha," he said of the feast that began on Friday in most Muslim countries at the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage.

The sabotage occurred a week ago west of the oil hub of Kirkuk -- the third time the pipeline had been targeted in two months.

According to the ministry, acts of sabotage by insurgents reduced oil exports in October by four percent compared with the previous month, but overall revenues were higher because of an increase in prices.

Iraq exported 1.87 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, bringing in 4.2 billion dollars in revenues. September exports stood at 1.95 million bpd and raised 3.8 billion dollars.

Iraq is producing around 2.5 million bpd of crude oil, two million of which are for export, but Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani wants production to be ramped up to between 10 and 12 million bpd within six years.

Around 85 percent of Iraqi government revenues come from oil sales.

Iraq has the world's third largest proven reserves of oil, with more than 115 billion barrels, behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran.