Lukoil Issued Tender for Iraq's West Qurna Field

Russian energy company Lukoil and partners have issued a tender for seismic surveys at Iraq's West Qurna 2 Oil Field. Lukoil, which along with its consortium partner, Norway's Statoil, won a contract to develop the field, invited companies to bid for carrying out 3D field seismic surveys at the oil field, with a deadline of 26 September 2010, said the statement, published in the Assabah newspaper.

Lukoil and Statoil sealed the 20-year deal to develop the West Qurna Phase Two, a 12.9 billion barrel oil field in the south, in an auction in December, pledging to boost output to a plateau target of 1.8 million bpd.

Production at West Qurna will hit 120,000 bpd in 2012, a senior executive from Statoil said in April. Lukoil's development contract is part of a series of deals signed by Iraq with global oil companies in a bid to boost its crude output capacity in seven years to 12 million bpd, from 2.5 million bpd now.- Reuters, Trade Arabia