Gazprom Neft has delivered the first oil from the newly developed Badra oil field in eastern Iraq into the country’s pipeline system.

Oil from the field can now be transferred to the export terminal at Basra with current deliveries into the pipeline standing at over 15,000 barrels a day (b/d), according to the Russian energy group.

According to profit-sharing agreement (PSA) with the Baghdad government, the consortium of investors companies will begin getting returns on the exports after 90 days of commercial supply.

Gazprom has a 30 per cent stake in the consortium developing the Badra field, with smaller stakes held by Korea Gas Corporation (22.5 per cent), Malaysia’s Petronas (15 per cent) and Turkey-based TPAO (7.5 per cent). State-owned Iraqi Oil Exploration Company owns a 25 per cent share.

The Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organisation (Somo), responsible for oil sales from Basra, will provide compensation at a rate of $5.5 a barrel to the investor companies after project costs have been recovered.

The first line, which was connected to Iraq’s oil pipeline network in March, has been built with a capacity of 60,000 b/d and will be expanded to reach a peak of 170,000 b/d in line with Gazprom’s plans.

Gazprom Neft has started the construction of a 1.5 million cubic-metre-a-year (cm/y) gas processing complex at Badra, which will be connected with the Zubaida power plant via a 100-kilometre pipeline.