A crude carrier chartered by LITASCO (LUKOIL's international marketing and trading arm) arrived today (Wednesday) in South Iraq's port of Basra to receive the first batch of oil as part of the recovery of LUKOIL's costs from phase one (“Early Oil”) of the West Qurna-2 project. The vessel will spend several days in the port […]
By John Lee. Ravil Maganov (pictured), who oversees Lukoil's exploration and production, has said total investment in the West Qurna-2 field was expected to exceed $30 billion. At its peak in 2019, he said he expects oil production at the field to hit 1.25 million bpd. The world's second-largest undeveloped field, with recoverable oil reserves of around […]
By John Cookson. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Traders will tell you the price of oil is a speculative market based on expectations. Most of Iraq's oil production is from the mega fields in the south, far from any fighting. But […]
LUKOIL Overseas (the Operator of LUKOIL's overseas upstream projects) has informed Iraq’s Ministry of Oil that it has fulfilled its contractual obligations for first commercial production at West Qurna-2. LUKOIL, the Operator of the West Qurna-2 project, successfully maintained an average daily production of at least 120 thousand barrels for 90 days, entitling it to […]
By John Lee. Lukoil have announced changes to their contract to work on West Qurna-2, following talks with the Iraqi Minister of Oil Abdul Kareem Luaibi. The new alteration expands the scope of the work to include the Tuba-Fao pipeline, as well as speeding up the process of cost recovery for investors. The Tuba-Fao pipeline […]
By John Lee. Lukoil boss Vagit Alekperov (pictured) has told journalists that production at the West Qurna-2 oilfield has reached 200,000 bpd, from a starting volume of 120,000 bpd two months ago. He added: "By the end of the year according to obligations 400,000 will be reached. Today there is no doubt that 400,000 will […]
By John Lee. Writing in Forbes, correspondent Christopher Helman has written an autobiographical study of Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov (pictured) and the company's long term ambition in developing the giant West Qurna 2 field in southern Iraq. Helman notes the stunning scale of the endeavor, which has spanned several decades including a deal with Saddam in 1997 […]
By John Lee. Russia's Lukoil is considering joining a joint venture with Russian state-owned exploration and production company Zarubezhneft to develop the Nassiriya oil field and help build an associated refinery. The next round of talks on the project with the Iraqi government is expected this summer, LUKoil CEO Vagit Alekperov (pictured) stated earlier, according […]
By John Lee. According to shipping data tracked by Reuters, oil exports from Iraq's southern terminals are heading for a record high in April. An average of 2.55 million barrels per day were shipped in the first 23 days of April, which if sustained would top February's 2.50 million bpd, the highest since 1979. Southern […]
LUKOIL has started a 2D seismic survey at Block 10 in the south of Iraq. 2000 linear kilometers of seismic surveys will be completed by the BGP Inc. geophysical company within 16 months. The Mandatory Geologic Exploration Program at Block 10 is scheduled to take five years with a potential 2-year extension and includes drilling […]
By John Lee. Iraq's giant oil field West Qurna 2, with a minimum 14 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, began production on Saturday as Lukoil opened spigots to put 140,000 barrels a day onto the market. By the end of the year the field is set to produce 400,000 bpd, putting Iraq on track for […]
Thales has been awarded a contract to provide an Integrated Security System (ISS) for the West Qurna-2 oil field development located 65 km northwest of Basra in Southern Iraq. This contract has been signed with LUKOIL Mid-East Ltd, a subsidiary of the Russian oil company LUKOIL. Thales will design and deploy the Integrated Security System […]
