MOSCOW, April 9 (UPI) -- Russian energy company Gazprom Neft said Thursday it received its first batch of oil from the Badra field in Iraq as compensation for field development costs.
The Russian oil company, which serves as the operator of the Badra oil field, said it received 500,000 barrels of oil from the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Co. at the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
"Gazprom Neft's buyer is a large Asian company" the company said in a statement.
The company, the oil arm of Russian gas company Gazprom, brought Badra online in late 2013 and testing of new pipeline infrastructure to the export terminal at Basra began early last year. The Russian company said the terms of its Iraqi contract call for the eventual production of 170,000 barrels per day.
Investors in November reached agreements with the Iraqi government that reinforces a share of production from the Badra oil field, the company said.
In its latest statement, Gazprom Neft said a pipeline from Badra is delivering oil at a rate of 15,000 bpd.
"Stable production at this level has enabled the investors to start receiving compensation for the costs incurred, by obtaining part of the oil produced on the field," the company said.
Commercial shipments from Badra began in August. Three wells in service at the field near the Iraqi border with Iran is on par with pipeline delivery volumes.
The Middle East subsidiary of Gazprom Neft said last month it was ready to survey the reserve potential in the Halabja block of the Kurdish north of Iraq, where it said there's been "very little geological study."
