Iraq Oil News: Iraq Aims to Boost Daily Oil Output by 360,000 Barrels

Iraq aims to boost oil production by 360,000 barrels a day by the end of this year and the beginning of next year from three southern key oil fields, a senior Iraqi oil official said Wednesday, that would send Iraq’s total output to 3.61 million barrels a day.

If all goes to plan, first production from the 13-billion-barrel supergiant West Qurna-2, being developed by Russia’s Lukoil OAO Holding, will start at 150,000 barrels a day by the end of this year or early 2014, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, and head of the Iraqi oil ministry’s petroleum contracts, told The Wall Street Journal.

First production from the 12.6-billion-barrel supergiant Majnoon oil field, led by the major Royal Dutch Shell  PLC is expected to start at 175,000 barrels a day either at the end of September or the beginning of October, Mr. Ameedi said.

Iraq also is planning to start production of 30,000 to 35,000 barrels a day from the Garraf oil field, being upgraded by Malaysia’s Petronas Carigali and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., or Japex, at the end of August or beginning of September, he added.

Production would also increase from other producing fields such as Rumaila, West Qurna-1, Zubair and Halfaya which are operated by BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp.,  Eni SpA and PetroChina, respectively.

The 17-billion-barrel Rumaila, Iraq’s biggest producer is now pumping out 1.4 million barrels a day and it is expected to hit 1.45 million barrels a day this year. West Qurna-1 is producing roughly 495,000 barrels a day and it is targeting 530,000 barrels a day this year and Zubair is producing around 300,000 barrels a day, according to industry sources.

The Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement Wednesday that it is currently producing 3.25 million barrels a day, compared with 2.9 million barrels a day same period last year.

Source: Wall Street Journal