Russia's Lukoil eyes Iraqi development

Officials at Russia's private oil company LUKoil said they were interested in upgrading infrastructure associated with the West Qurna oil field in Iraq. Vagit Alekperov, the top executive at Russia's largest oil company, had met with Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi to discuss development of the West Qurna-2 deposit. Revisions of estimated reserves in Iraq led the country's oil minister to say in October that there were around 143 billion barrels of oil in Iraq. Reserve estimates for West Qurna-2 are around 13 billion barrels. LUKoil is developing West Qurna-2 alongside Norwegian energy company Statoil. Alekperov said his company wanted to upgrade the transport infrastructure from the field. An electric power station fueled by associated gas at the field was considered as well, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports. Full-scale production is slated for the end of 2012. The field should reach a peak production rate of 1.8 million barrels per day by 2017 and sustain that level for more than a decade. West Qurna-2 is about 40 miles northwest of the port city of Basra near outlets to the Persian Gulf.