80% of Iraq’s Eridu oilfield to be owned by Russia’s Lukoil
A fuel tank for the Russian oil company Lukoil. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – An Iraqi MP revealed on Thursday that after Japanese oil firm Inpex Corporation sold half of its 40 percent share in the oilfield, Russia’s Lukoil would possess 80 percent of the vast Eridu oilfield in southern Iraq’s Dhi Qar governorate.
Iraqi MP Adil Hashosh told Rudaw News that Lukoil currently owns 80 percent of the Eridu oilfield after acquiring an extra 20 percent from Japan.
In the past two decades, the Eridu oilfield has been considered the key oil discovery in Iraq.
Iraq’s Dhi Qar Oil Company gave Russia’s Lukoil permission to develop the oilfield in March.
The Eridu oilfield is situated in Block 10, which is 150 kilometers from the enormous West Qurna 2 oilfield—in which Lukoil also has a 75 percent stake—and 120 kilometers west of Basra city.
Lukoil estimates that the oilfield contains 12.9 billion barrels of reserves.
Eridu’s development plan involves producing up to 250,000 barrels of oil per day, a goal that should be accomplished by 2028.
Major Russian oil and gas companies such as Lukoil, Gazprom, Neft, and Rosneft are operating in oilfields in southern Iraq and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.