MOSCOW, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Russian energy company Gazprom Neft said Thursday its first volumes of oil were produced from the Badra field near the eastern Iraqi border with Iran.
Gazprom Neft said it moved one step closer to commercial production after recording a daily natural flow rate of 7,000 barrels of oil from the Badra field.
Vadim Yakovlev, first deputy chief executive officer at Gazprom Neft, said the company started "practically from scratch" three years ago and was now nearly finished with the infrastructure necessary for large-scale production at Badra.
Gazprom Neft serves as the operator at Badra in a consortium that includes Korean and Brazilian counterparts.
Gazprom Neft under the terms of a 2009 agreement with the Iraqis will develop the Badra field in Wasit province for the next 20 years. Total capacity could reach 170,000 barrels per day.
The company said apart from the commercial infrastructure, it planned six production wells in Badra for this year.
Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy company Gazprom, postponed Badra developments in November because of security concerns in Iraq.
