Malaysia’s Petronas is continuing with a local community outreach programme that the company started  after an attack on its headquarters in southern Iraq last year.

“Teams are still going out into communities and maintaining a dialogue with local groups,” an industry source said. “As a result of the ongoing outreach programme tensions around the Garraf area have decreased.”

Petronas’ headquarters near the Garraf oil field, which it operates, was attacked in August last year by a group of men that accused the company of causing earthquakes.

Gunmen used light weapons before firing a rocket-propelled grenade at a checkpoint.

Police said there was minor damage to Petronas property, but no causalities.

Prior to the attack, there were protests demanding that a special team investigate the cause of earthquakes in the region.

“Since last year, Petronas has made a significant effort to engage with residents near the Garraf field,” a source said. “These efforts are ongoing and no more attacks are expected.”

While Petronas is exiting Iraq’s Majnoon concession along with joint stakeholder Shell, it is expected to ramp up production from its Garraf field.

Petronas first produced oil from the field, which it operates in Iraq’s Thi Qar Province, in 2013 at an initial rate of 35,000 barrels a day (b/d).

In 2013, Petronas said it was targeting 230,000 b/d from the field by 2017, but this failed to materialise due to delays to an ongoing $5bn field development project.

The company is still expecting to make progress on the project.

It is now targeting production of 230,000 b/d from the field within two to three years, according to industry sources.

Petronas is partnered with Tokyo-listed Japan Petroleum Exploration Company (Japex) and Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company.

The Garraf oil field is located approximately 5 kilometres north-west of Al-Refaei city and 85km north of the city of Nasiriya. In 2013, it was estimated to hold 1.3 billion barrels of oil reserves.