The Kirkuk pipeline, already the target of several attacks, has yet to be fully repaired which is delaying its reopening. The most recent damage is expected to take up to two weeks to fix.

The bombing of the line between the Kirkuk oilfields and the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan not only slows the export of crude but delays any revenue growth which is desperately needed to fund the rebuilding of Iraq.

The attacks have continued to suppress oil production with the only exports from the country being from crude held in storage at export terminals since before the war began.

In July Baghdad is planning to sell only eight million barrels, all from its southern fields, at a rate for the month of just 260,000bopd. Before the war it was selling two million barrels daily.