Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 24 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /
A new oil field, Al-Dima, was discovered in the Iraqi province of Missan in the south of the country, official representative of the Iraqi Oil Ministry Asym Jihad told Trend on Tuesday.
"According to our forecasts, this field has rich oil reserves," he said. "At this stage, the potential volumes of oil production from this field are being studied."
He said that Iraq will announce a tender to explore seven gas and five oil fields in April 2012.
Iraq held tenders for exploration and development of new gas fields, Mansouriya in the province of Diyala and Siba in the Basra and Akkaz provinces in the west of the country in 2011. These tenders were won by such companies as Turkish TPAO and the Kuwait Petroleum Company. The project cost $22-23 billion and the development of these deposits will increase gas production in Iraq, he said.
He said that Iraq intends to begin working to produce liquefied gas in the country with further exports in 2012.
"The country intends to build a new gas liquefaction plant to replace that which was destroyed by air strikes during the war," he said.
He earlier said that the Iraqi Oil Ministry has prepared a plan of action to increase the country's natural gas production and exports in three stages: oil extraction from new fields, the use of associated gas and the exploration of new fields. According to BP, the proven gas reserves in Iraq as of early 2011 amounted to 3.17 trillion cubic metres.
Iraq and Azerbaijan are considered as the main gas suppliers to implement the Nabucco project. Around eight to 10 billion cubic metres of gas is expected to be obtained.
Earlier, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an exclusive interview with Trend, that Iraq is interested in participating in the Nabucco gas pipeline project and the country is able to offer its resources to this strategic project.