Iraq police avert bomb attack on north oilfield

Iraqi police defused bombs planted at two oil wells near the northern city of Kirkuk, according to security and oil sources, who said exports to the Ceyhan port in Turkey were not affected.

The bombs were discovered near two wells producing crude from the Bai Hassan oilfield, which is currently pumping around 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), officials at state-run North Oil Company (NOC) said.

No group has claimed responsibility, but several armed factions are active in Kirkuk, and Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda often attack security forces and energy installations in an attempt to undermine the Arab Shi'ite-led government.

Militants have recently stepped up attacks against oil export pipelines in the north, a sign of the challenges Iraq faces to protect its energy infrastructure as it rebuilds an industry battered by years of war and sanctions.

Crude oil flows from the OPEC member to Turkey on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline were interrupted in May due to repeated attacks and Iraq recently foiled an al Qaeda plot to bomb a key Baghdad oil facility.

Violence has spiked since the start of the year as al Qaeda's local wing, the Islamic State of Iraq, and other Sunni Islamist insurgents stepped up attacks to try to stoke a wide scale sectarian conflict.

The bulk of Iraq's oil is exported from the southern terminals of Basra, but just below 400,000 bpd - a quarter of all exports - is pumped through the Kirkuk pipeline to Ceyhan port in Turkey.

Iraq oil exports fall to 2.484 million bpd

Iraq's oil exports fell to 2.484 million barrels per day (bpd) in May from 2.62 million in April due to a slowdown in Kirkuk oil shipments after repeated pipeline attacks and maintenance operations in the south.

Iraq shipped 2.198 million bpd from the southern oil hub of Basra and 286,000 bpd from the northern fields around Kirkuk, including 15,000 barrels trucked to Jordan.

The May export figure is lower than the initial level of 2.6 million bpd given by oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi on May 26.

Experts say lower exports show the 2.9 million bpd set in the 2013 federal budget will be difficult to achieve.

Problems include repeated attacks on the northern pipeline, shipment stoppages from the Kurdish region and infrastructure bottlenecks in the south.

Iraq aims to double its oil output over the next three years and has a long-term goal of 12 million bpd. The OPEC member is likely to manage around half that amount, industry experts say, due to infrastructure and logistical hurdles.

Yet Iraq, which has the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, is still expected to be the world's biggest source of new oil supplies over the next few years.

Iraq considering BP for work on Kirkuk oil field

An Iraqi oil official says the country is considering a proposal for British oil giant BP to begin work on a major oil field that lies in territory contested by Baghdad and the minority Kurds.

The head of the Oil Ministry's petroleum contracts and licensing division, Abdul-Mahdi al-Ameedi, told reporters that the plan aims to boost output at the Kirkuk oil field, where production has been declining.

He says BP's offer has been sent to the Cabinet for consideration, though no deal has been approved yet.

BP spokesman Toby Odone says Iraq requested a proposal for work at the field. He declined to give details, including about the scale of any potential investment.