Russia's Lukoil starts demining in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Russian oil company Lukoil announced that it started work to deactivate land mines and unexploded ordnance from its oil fields in Iraq.

Lukoil, which is overseeing operations at the West Qurna-2 oil field near the southern port city of Basra, said it started demining activity in the region.

The Russian oil company said most of the munitions are left from the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and the international response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s.

The company said mine-removal operations are proceeding in accordance with international standards and that work will be completed by 2011.

E-Mine, the electronic mine information network of the United Nations, said more than 650 square miles of land in Iraq are impacted by mine contamination.

Drilling in West Qurna-2 is expected in 2011 with full-scale production 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 holds roughly 13 billion barrels of oil. It is located about 40 miles northwest of the port city of Basra near the outlets to the Persian Gulf.

Lukoil said it plans to dump $30 billion into developing the oil field with its partners at Statoil.