Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 47 2021

FSUOGM NEWS IN BRIEF FSUOGM

To facilitate economic growth, a free anticipated. gas under promotion and projects to
economic zone (FEZ) has been established With the asset currently capable of improve the environment in the fields and
in the Karakul area, attracting domestic and producing 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), surrounding areas”.
foreign producers with tax exemptions and Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar told the The full 350,000 bpd addition to current
permission to conduct business in foreign Iraqi News Agency (INA) that peak output output levels will be achieved through the
currencies. An uninterrupted energy would be achieved three years ahead of Yamama expansion.
supply, partly from renewable sources, is the timeline estimated by Russian lead West Qurna-2 forms the larger, southern
guaranteed. developer Lukoil. development project to tap the broader
“Uzbekistan is confidently following Abdul Jabbar said that “the field’s deposit which has estimated oil reserves
the path of expanding capacities for deep peak production is expected to reach of around 23bn barrels with West Qurna-1
processing of natural gas, which will allow 800,000[bpd] in 2027”, coinciding with holding the smaller, 9bn-barrel share.
even deeper diversification of the country's Baghdad’s target date for achieving its The field’s production plateau was
economy. And the new petrochemical plant nationwide output increase from the previously revised downward first from
using MTO technology is a prime example,” current 5mn bpd to 8mn bpd. 1.8mn bpd to 1.2mn bpd and then to
Sultanov said. In August, Lukoil’s VP for finance Pavel 800,000 bpd, though the timeline for the
The complex will have a production Zhdanov told a conference call that the latest revision was also extended from 2025
capacity of 720,000 tonnes/year of finished company still plans “to reach the target of to 2030.
polymer products, enough to satisfy 800,000 bpd by 2030, but it is probably too Lukoil holds a 75% stake in the WQ-2
all domestic demand. The facility will early to talk about this”. technical services contract (TSC) alongside
produce diverse products from the core 2027 is also the date by which Lukoil the state-owned North Oil Co. This accords
inputs of ethylene and propylene, which and Japanese partner Inpex Corp. expect to the developers a maximum remuneration
will substitute for various raw materials reach plateau production of 250,000 bpd at fee of just $1.15 per barrel, and according
currently imported, and contribute their Eridu oilfield in Block 10. to Wood Mackenzie, Lukoil’s net profit
significantly to Uzbekistan’s economic While WQ2 output levels for Q3 have from WQ-2 is just $0.56 per barrel of oil
growth. not yet been disclosed, production rose to equivalent when considering state equity
The MTO plant will seek to minimise 400,000 bpd in Q2 but averaged around interest and tax, with this dropping to $0.19
the project’s impact on the environment. 350,000 bpd owing to OPEC+ restrictions, per boe after applying the performance
Environmental standards compliance though this marked an increase on Q1 when factor.
will be monitored and confirmed by oil flows ran at 307,500 bpd.
internationally recognised environmental Zhdanov said that the “next development
consultants, Mott MacDonald Group stage of the project is to reach production
Limited (UK). of 480,000 bpd. Next year we will increase
production from the current 400,000 bpd to
450,000 bpd at the Mishrif formation.”
Ministry envisages faster 30,000 bpd production from pilot wells of
He added: “This year, we plan to start
increase at West Qurna-2 the Yamama formation.” This follows the
drilling of a three-well pilot oil programme
Iraq’s Ministry of Oil (MoO) said this week targeting the Yamama to produce 10,000
that it expects oil production to increase bpd per well over a three-month period.
at the West Qurna-2 (WQ2) oilfield This was highlighted by Abdul Jabbar who
more quickly than had previously been added that “there are projects to catch

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 47 24•November•2021