Russia’s Lukoil plans to issue a tender in September for the front-end engineering and design (feed) work for the Yamama reservoir of the West Qurna Phase Two oil field in the south of Iraq.

The winning contractor will complete a light feed and prepare the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender documents. The final feed documentation will be completed and provided to EPC bidders prior to receiving final EPC bids, according to documents seen by MEED.

Bids were submitted by several firms on 18 June for pre-feed services. The feed contractor will also prepare long lead time item tenders, and will complete a EPC Decision Support Package so that a decision to proceed with Yamama investment can be made.

There are three main reservoirs in southern Iraq which account for nearly 90 of its oil; Mishrif, Zubair and Yamama. Each is found at a different depth, in different rock formations and have different characteristics requiring different methods for oil extraction.

Lukoil plans to increase production capacity at the field to 1.8 million barrels a day (b/d). About 700,000 b/d will come from the Mishrif reservoir, but the 1.1 million b/d will be from the Yamama Reservoir.

Yamama is a layered carbonate formation that has no aquifer support so requires gas or water injection for production. Oil from the reservoir is light, at an American Petrolem Institute gravity (API gravity) of 37-44 degrees, and contains only 0.5 per cent sulphur. Much of Iraq’s future production will come from the more difficult Mishrif and Yamama reservoirs.

According to the tender documents, the Mishrif reservoir development plan includes the drilling of production, water disposal and water injection wells, the construction of the gathering system, central processing facilities, injection water distribution systems, export oil and export gas lines, associated pipelines, a power plant, limited sulfur recovery and handling facilities, as well as supporting facilities and infrastructure.

The Yamama development is broadly similar, but includes distribution systems for injection wells, gas treatment for either export or injection, the expansion of the Mishrif power plant, a light oil export pipeline and tank farm upgrades at Pumping Station-1, as well as tie-ins to the natural gas liquids and gas export systems. There is also the possibility of sulfur recovery and export from the reservoir.