Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 24 / Trend A.Badalova /
Oil production at two key fields in Iraq is expected to rise over the next two months, International Oil Daily (IOD) reported with the reference to an industrial source.
According to the source, the country's Al-Garraf field could produce 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) by end-year, which means that the production will double the original target. This scenario is possible in case if output from wells can be maximized. Two 50,000 bpd processing trains are to be fully commissioned by next month.
Al-Garraf field in Di-Kar province is operated by Malaysia's Petronas and Japan's Japex.
According to Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi, last month Garraf field started producing 35,000 bpd and output should increase to 50,000 bpd next month. This was stressed at the ceremony to mark the start of production at Al-Garraf field last week.
Earlier, Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Asym Jihad told Trend that it is planned to increase the production capacity of Al-Garraf field to 230,000 barrels per day by 2017.
Production at another field Majnoon, which is operated by Royal Dutch Shell, is expected to exceed the first commercial production target of 175,000 bpd from October. However, according to an industrial source, whether output will rise to capacity of 200,000-220,000 bpd hinges on whether the oil ministry allows Shell and partner Petronas to produce at that maximum rate, IOD reported.
Iraq increased oil export to 79.8 million barrels in August 2013 compared to 78 million barrels in July and exported averagely 2.57 million barrels of oil per day.
Oil production in Iraq was on average 3.4 million barrels per day in August 2013 compared to 3.2 million barrels in July.
The main oil fields in Iraq are in the south of the country. They are Rumaila, Zubair, Nahr Umr, Majnoon and West Qurna. At least 80 per cent of the oil produced in Iraq is exported.
