PETRONAS resumes digging 3rd well in Gharaf Oil Field

THI-QAR / IraqiNews.com: THe Malisian PETRONAS Oil Company has started on Saturday digging the 3rd oil  well in Gharraf Oil Field north of southern Iraq’s Nassiriya City, the center of Thi-Qar Province, the Oil Field Section’s Assistant Director in Thi-Qar Province reported. “PETRONAS has began digging the 3rd well in the Garraf Oil Field, within 11 wells, the Company is planning to dig,” the Section’s Assistant Director, Khalil Rashid, told IraqiNews.com news agency, expressing hope that its initial production would be 35,000 barrels per day next year. The Economic Analyist, Salah Ghani al-Husseiny, told IraqiNews.com that the Iraqi Government had announced plans to develop and raise Thi-Qar Province’s production To reach more than 50,000 barrels per day from Nassiriya Oil Field alone. Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, had announced on 3/1/2010 that expectations pointed out that “Iraq’s oil production would reach 11 million and 400,000 barrels per day in 2015. The Malaisian National Oil Company “PETRONAS” and the Japanese Petroleum Excavation Company (JAPEX) had signed on Monday, 20/12/2009, a preliminary agreement with the Iraqi government to develop southern Iraq’s Gharraf Oil Field with investments, expected to reach US$8 billions (b). PETRONAS possesses 60% of the project, with 40% by JAPEX, and the agreement is a long-range contract that continues for 20 years. Both Companies shall get an interest of 1.49 dollars per barrel, and have committed themselves to raise the oil field’s production to 330,000 barrels per day, according to PETRONAS Director-Genera, Wang Kin, within 10 oil fields planned for development with in the 2nd Iraqi Oil Contacts Consignments, led by the United States in 2003. Thi-Qar Provinces possesses an oil reserve, estimated at 20 billion (b) barrels, within 5 oil fields that are not invested, including the Grand Nassiriya Oil Field at Gute’a Area, 30 km to the northwest of Nassiriya, expected to produce 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), with an expected productivity potential of one million barrels per day after its Completion. The other oil field is the Gharraf Oil Field, 25 km to the north of Nassiriya, expected to produce 130,000 bpd, the Rafidain (Abu-Amoud) Oil Field, with a production capacity upon its commissioning to reach 110,000 bpd, whilst the gas reserve in the Province that lies in the oil fields, had not been estimated yet., at a time when special teams had started their activity west of north of the Province to discover new oil fields. Nassirya, the center of Thi-Qar Province, is 365 km to the south of Baghdad. SKH (ST) 137