Gazprom Neft exporting new Iraqi oil

MOSCOW, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Russian energy company Gazprom Neft said oil from the Badra field in southern Iraq is making its way to the Persian Gulf for exports.

The company, the oil arm of Russian gas company Gazprom, brought Badra online in December and testing of new pipeline infrastructure to the export terminal at Basra began in May. Now, the company said, the field is sending 15,000 barrels of oil per day to the southern port city.

"Over the period of just a few years, a consortium of companies led by Gazprom Neft has fully prepared Badra, one of the most complex geological field structures in Iraq, for full-scale commercial development," Alexander Dyukov, Gazprom Neft board chairman, said in a statement Monday. "This is the first major international project in the upstream sector the company has implemented from scratch."

In June, the company started preliminary oil production from the Badra oil field in Iraq, which has estimated reserves of 3 billion barrels of oil.

The delivery from Badra of 15,000 bpd should be static for the rest of the year. The Russian company said the terms of its Iraqi contract call for the eventual production of 170,000 bpd.