August 24, 2010CNPC group to start drilling Iraq's Halfaya in September
Iraq, China's CNPC and its partners plan to start drilling new wells next month in Iraq's Halfaya oilfield as part of a plan to boost output to 70,000 barrels per day in 2011, a CNPC executive said on Tuesday.
Iraq signed a contract to develop Halfaya with China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), French oil major Total (TOTF.PA) and Malaysian state firm Petronas [PETR.UL], for a fee of $1.40 per barrel. CNPC has a 37.5 percent interest in the consortium.
The group plans to drill three appraisal wells this year for which it already issued a tender and is now evaluating the bids, the CNPC executive, Yan Shihe, told Reuters.
"We are planning from the third quarter of next year to try and reach 70,000 barrels per day," he said.
To reach this target, the group aims to drill around 15 new wells next year, he added.
In May, Total said crude oil production from Iraq's Halfaya oilfield will hit 535,000 bpd by 2016, from 3,000 bpd now. [ID:nLDE64U1U8]
Halfaya, situated in southern Iraq, has estimated reserves of 4.1 billion barrels of oil. The firms would start recovering costs when output hits 70,000 bpd.
It is part of a series of deals Baghdad signed with global oil companies in a bid to boost its production capacity to Saudi levels of 12 million bpd from 2.5 million bpd now.
http://www.einnews.com/iraq/
