Petronas has announced it has struck oil at the Garraf field located in the Thi Qar Province in southern Iraq
Petronas Carigali Iraq, the upstream operations arm of Malaysian oil company Petronas, is the operator and is jointly developing the oilfield with Japex Garraf Limited, an affiliate of Japan Petroleum Exploration Company Limited (Japex), and North Oil Company, an Iraqi state-owned company.
Petronas and Japex had started drilling the oilfield in June 2011.
To date, 11 wells, consisting of two appraisal and nine development wells, have been drilled and the necessary main surface facilities and pipelines have been constructed to cater for the initial production rate, the company said.
According to Japex, production from the Garraf oilfield has started at the rate of 35,000 bpd and is expected to reach 230,000 bpd in 2017.
Ikhlas Abdul Rahman, country manager of Petronas Carigali Iraq, said, “The success of first oil at the Garraf oilfield helps cement Petronas’ reputation in the industry as an experienced and capable operator.”
Petronas Carigali Iraq also has interests in Halfaya oilfield, which is currently being operated by PetroChina.
