Tag Archives | West Qurna Oilfield News

The latest West Qurna Oilfield News – Baker Hughes, contract, Shell, Lukoil, Russia, new oil wells and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News.

Iraq Launches World’s Largest Flare Reduction Project

South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi today officially announced the commencement of operations of Basrah Gas Company, which will be the largest gas project in Iraq’s history and the world’s largest flares reduction project. Basrah Gas Company is a 25-year incorporated Joint Venture between Iraq’s South Gas Company holding 51% of its shares, Shell 44% […]

Lukoil Expects 150,000 bpd from West Qurna-2

By John Lee. Lukoil Chief Executive Officer Vagit Alekperov (pictured) has said that the Russian company expects to produce around 150,000 bpd of oil from the West Qurna-2 field by January: "The program of developing the oilfield infrastructure is proceeding according to schedule and work is ongoing at all the sites ... From 1st January […]

Protests at West Qurna-2

By John Lee. Hundreds of locals blocked a main entrance of Iraq's giant southern West Qurna-2 oilfield on Tuesday. According to Iraq Oil Report, local residents have long complained that oil development has caused them to lose agricultural land for which they have not been adequately compensated, while many expected to receive jobs at oil […]

Pertamina to Buy Stake in West Qurna?

By John Lee. Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta Rajasa (pictured), has said Pertamina is considering taking a stake of up to 20 percent in the West Qurna-I block, which is owned by Exxon Mobil. According to a report from Fox Business, Mr. Rajasa told reporters: "Exxon has got a new oil field in […]

PetroChina Considers Join Exxon at West Qurna-1

The Chairman of PetroChina has told Reuters that his company is willing to join Exxon Mobil in the 400,000-bpd West Qurna-1 oilfield project. Jiang Jiemin (pictured) told the news agency: "We are willing to jointly develop the project with Exxon Mobil. Exxon Mobil welcomed our participation and the Iraqi government also supports us joining the […]

West Quran 2 Contract Terms Revised

By John Lee. The Chairman of Russia's LUKoil, Vagit Alekperov, has signed an amendment to the contract to develop the West Qurna-2 oil field with the South Oil Company (SOC). According to the amendment, the 18.75 percent share of the project formerly owned by the Norwegian company Statoil is to be taken over by LUKoil, […]

LUKoil Slashes Iraq Oil Output Plan

Russia’s LUKoil has said it has cut its oil production plan in Iraq by almost a third, in line with the local government’s plans to increase the lifetime of its oilfields, reports Al Arabiya. Andrei Kuzyayev, head of LUKoil Overseas, told Russian state TV channel Rossiya-24 that LUKoil is now looking for peak production at […]

WorleyParsons Wins West Qurna-2 Contract

WorleyParsons has been awarded a three year contract by LukOil Mid-East Limited to provide project management services for West Qurna-2 oil field development project in Iraq. WorleyParsons will provide project management, technical and construction supervision personnel to support the West Qurna-2 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities. WorleyParsons will also develop a Project Management System […]

LUKoil Still Considering West Qurna-1

By John Lee. Russian’s LUKoil is said to be studying documents on Iraq’s West Qurna-1 oil field, with a view to possibly taking over ExxonMobil's stake. Bloomberg quotes Chief Executive Officer Vagit Alekperov (pictured) as saying that the company will make a decision on possible participation in the project by the end of the year. […]

Iraq says Exxon to Quit West Qurna-1

By John Lee. Exxon Mobil has informed the Iraqi government that it wants to pull out of the $50-billion West Qurna-1 oilfield project, according to a report from Reuters. Abdul Mahdi Al Ameedi, director of the oil ministry’s Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD), said: "Exxon has stated in its letter that it has started discussions […]

Place Your Bets: Erbil or Baghdad

The dispute between Iraq's central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government over oil contracts in northern Iraq has been dragging on for years, but it recent times we've seen developments that push the sides further apart rather than bringing them together. While the short-term issue of payments for shipments from Iraqi Kurdistan appears to have […]

Exxon "Nears Sale of South Iraq Stake"

ExxonMobil is in talks to sell its 60% stake in the massive West Qurna-1 oil field, while gearing up to start a controversial drilling program in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing what it described at "people familiar with the matter". Exxon's 2010 deal with the Iraqi central government to improve production in […]