Oil delivered from Iraq's Majnoon field

BASRA, Iraq, April 8 (UPI) -- The first barrels of oil from the Majnoon field in Iraq were exported from the country, a group led by Shell announced.

Shell said it exported the first volumes of oil from Majnoon through a partnership with Iraq's state-run South Oil Co., Iraq's Missan Oil and Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas.

"The lifting of Shell’s first oil shipment from Majnoon has great significance to us and our partners in the government, Hans Nijkamp, chairman of Shell operations in Iraq, said in a statement Monday.

Shell said Majnoon, located in the southern province of Basra, is producing oil at an average rate of 210,000 barrels per day.

Shell said the field was overhauled last year, when more than 10 square miles of mine fields were cleared and the facilities there were refurbished to meet safety standards. Last month, engineering company Foster Wheeler said it landed a contract from Shell's subsidiary in Iraq to help overhaul facilities tied to the Majnoon oil field

More than a dozen wells have been drilled in Majnoon. The Iraqi government estimates Majnoon holds around 38 billion barrels of oil.