Lukoil has started commercial production at the West Qurna-2 oil field in Iraq
The company announced at an official ceremony that it had reached the target production level of 120,000 bpd on March 28, 2014.
The ceremony was attended by Hussain al-Shahristani, deputy prime minister of Iraq, Arkady Dvorkovich, deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation, Vagit Alekperov, president of OAO Lukoil, members of the Iraqi Government, Basra province authorities and representatives of major contractors.
According to the service contract between Lukoil and the Iraqi Government, the company must maintain that level of production for the next 90 days to begin receiving a return on its investments.
West Qurna-2 is one of the largest oil fields in the world and is located in southern Iraq, 65 km from the town of Basra.
The field has an estimated 35bn barrels of geological oil reserves in two main formations – Mishrif and Yamama.
The project is being implemented in three phases: Mishrif Early Oil (with a target production level of up to 400,000 bpd), Mishrif Full Field Development (up to 550,000 bpd) and Yamama Formation Development (up to 1.2mn bpd). Early Oil – was launched in record time.
The production plateau will then be maintained at 1.2mn bpd for 19.5 years.
"The start of production at West Qurna-2 is strategically important for Lukoil," said Alekperov.
"Starting up the field on a tight schedule and reaching the target production level underscores Lukoil's ability to independently and efficiently manage the implementation of complex large-scale projects and reinforces our position as a global energy company."
The stakeholders are the South Oil Company of the Ministry of Oil of Iraq (on behalf of the state) and a consortium of contractors comprising Lukoil (75 per cent) and the Iraqi North Oil Company (25 per cent).
