Iraqi government has invited international energy companies to submit bids for the construction of a new 350-km-long export pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields in the north of the country by January 24, said a report.

The new pipeline will replace an old and severely damaged section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. It will start from oilfields near Kirkuk and extend to the Fish-Khabur border area with Turkey, reported Reuters.

The pipeline, being set up under the "build-operate-transfer" model, will have the capacity to transport more than one million barrels per day, stated the report.

Under the project terms, the interested companies or consortia should also build a gas pipeline, pumping stations and facilities for crude storage, it added.