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DUBAI: Bahrain on Sunday announced it has discovered the largest oil and gas field in the history of the small kingdom, which unlike its Gulf neighbours is not energy-rich.

Authorities estimate the newfound reserves at "many times" the volume of Bahrain's only other known oil field, the state-run BNA news agency said.

Iran's crude oil exports in July are set to fall 7 percent from this month's three-month high, mainly due to a decline in exports to Europe, a person with knowledge of the Middle Eastern country's tanker loading schedule said.

Oil prices continued to fall on Thursday after substantial losses the previous day, dragged down by a surge in US inventories.

The major benchmarks were down over a dollar with Brent crude trading at $51.87 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate was at $49.05 during afternoon trading, falling below $50 per barrel for the first time since December.

The flow of crude oil from northern Iraq?s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) via Turkey?s Ceyhan Port has reached up to 650,000 barrels a day, from only around 2,300 barrels last March, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Y?ld?z has said. 

Global oil prices hit 2015 peaks on May 6 as fresh tensions in oil producer Libya raised concerns about a supply disruption in the Middle East, analysts said.

The market was meanwhile awaiting the latest snapshot of oil inventories in the United States, which is the world's top crude consuming nation.

An oil exploration firm said on April 9 that it had discovered 100 billion barrels of oil in the ground next to Gatwick Airport outside London.

Although only between three and 15 percent of the total is likely to be extractable, UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) said the Horse Hill well in Surrey, southwest England, was a "world class potential resource".

Oil producer Genel Energy has started returning staff to its non-producing sites in Iraqi Kurdistan as the security situation in the region has improved, the company has said.

Energean Oil & Gas, Greece's only oil producer, raised on Thursday its estimate of recoverable oil deposits by more than 10 percent to 30 million barrels.

Energean, in which US hedge fund Third Point LLC holds a 44.5 percent stake, produces about 1,700 barrels of crude a day off the northern Greek island of Thassos.