Azerbaijan, Baku, April 23 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Russian oil company LUKOIL will start work on the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq on April 25, Iraqi Oil Ministry representative Asym Jihad told Trend on Monday.
As part of the planned work, according to Jihad, the first oil well will be drilled on this field and the foundation of a drilling control center will be laid.
The West Qurna-2 field is located in the Basra Province in the south of the country. Iraq and LUKOIL signed an agreement on its development on March 22.
The operator in the West Qurna-2 project is LUKOIL (75 percent). From the Iraqi side North Oil company (25 percent) is involved in the project. The estimated production volume is 1.8 million barrels of oil per day. The field's reserves are estimated at 12.9 billion barrels.
According to BP, Iraq's proven oil reserves as of early 2011 amounted to 115 billion barrels. The country ranks third in OPEC after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Earlier official representative of the Iraqi Oil Ministry told Trend that the country plans to produce more than 3.42 million barrels of oil per day in 2012. About 2-2.5 million barrels will be exported.
The major oil fields of Iraq are Rumaila, Zubair, Nahr Umr, Majnoon and West Qurna in south of the country.