Iraq plans to increase Kirkuk field production

13 September 2011

State-owned North Oil Company targets more than 500,000 barrels a day by 2016

Iraq’s state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) has asked international oil companies to submit technical proposals by 5 October for the development of the Kirkuk oil field, increasing production by 300,000 barrels a day (b/d) within five years.

This will be followed by commercial offers, although no dates were given. The development of the field will be carried out by one of five unnamed companies, according to NOC officials, Platts news agency reports.

No dates were given for commercial offers.

NOC plans to increase its total output from five fields – Kirkuk, Bai Hassan, Jambur, Ajil and Hamrin – to 995,000 b/d, from current production of about 536,000 b/d.

The development of the Krikuk field will only include the Baba and Avana domes, which currently produce 280,000 b/d. The field lies in territory disputed by the federal government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The Khormala dome falls under the administration of the KRG.

In July, NOC flared 137 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of associated gas, compared to more than 760 million cf/d in the south of the country. The Oil Ministry has been in protracted talks with a consortium of UK-Dutch Shell and Japan’s Mitsubishi to capture and utilise the flared gas in the south (MEED 23:8:11).

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