Iraq issues tender to sell 5 mln bbls Kirkuk oil

LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Iraq has issued a new tender to sell 5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude oil from its northern fields, the third such sale in a month, according to the tender document seen by Reuters on Thursday.

The tender, which closes Oct. 5, calls for the crude to be loaded in lots of 1 million or 2 million barrels by Oct. 22.

Repeated sabotage attacks along Iraq's northern pipeline to the Turkish terminal of Ceyhan have kept the export route mostly idle since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.