Russia’s Gazprom Neft has announced that it has doubled oil production at its Badra oilfield in Iraq with 27,000-28,000 bpd
The Badra oilfield is located in the Wasit Province, Eastern Iraq. Preliminary estimates indicate total oil in place at the Badra field to be in the order of three billion barrels.
The contract for development of the field is expected to run for 20 years, with potential for extension by a further five. The commercial production commenced in 2014.
Meanwhile, installation of steam generators needed for the processing of associated petroleum gas (APG) has now been completed at the central oil-gathering facility at the Badra field.
Following the construction of a new production line, natural gas liquids (NGL) and dry-stripped gas will be separated from the APG and hydrogen sulphide used to commence production of granulated sulphur. The gas processing facility, which will have a total capacity of 1.6bn cu/m per year, is expected to be brought into production in 2017.
Sergey Karavaev, managing director at Gazprom Neft Badra B.V., said, “Work on construction of infrastructure at the field is ongoing and is being implemented consistent with our contractual obligations. Now, with the first major installation of process equipment, we can start work on the next phase of this project — the gas programme.”
A proportion of the dry-stripped gas produced will be used to fuel power generators, allowing an uninterrupted energy supply to oil and gas processing facilities, drilling rigs and wells. A further proportion will be supplied to the Az Zubaydiyah power plant, located 100 km south — east of Badra. The NGL will be used to produce LPG.
The next phase in the installation of gas-processing capacity at the central gathering facility will also see an increase in tank farm capacity, together with construction of an LPG storage facility (including infrastructure for loading tank trucks), a GX sulphur-forming unit, complete with warehousing for the storage of the finished product, and other processing facilities.
Following completion of the project, APG utilisation at the Badra field is expected to reach 99 per cent, Gazprom Neft revealed.
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