According to a document obtained by Reuters from Iraq’s oil ministry, Iraq’s Zubair oilfield will reach its peak output target of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by the start of 2017.
The Zubair consortium plans to invest around $18 billion to upgrade the southern Iraqi field, spending $2.8 billion in 2011, $4.9 billion in 2012, $3.9 billion in 2013 and nearly the same in 2014, and $3.1 billion in 2015
Italian oil company Eni is the lead partner with 32.81 percent, and Iraq’s Missan Oil Company holding 25 percent, Occidental Petroleum Corp 23.44 percent, and South Korea’s KOGAS 18.75 percent.
The document also showed output projections for Zubair were 300,000 bpd at end-2011, 400,000 bpd at the start of 2013, 600,000 bpd at the start of 2014, 800,000 bpd in 2015 and 1 million bpd by the start of 2016.
The group won the right to develop Zubair in 2009 following the country’s first auction of oil contracts since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The field was not initially awarded in the auction, but a deal was reached in subsequent negotiations under which the group will be paid a remuneration fee of $2 a barrel.
(Source: Reuters)