Majnoon to Exceed 200,000 bpd Next Year

By John Lee.

Shell‘s Majnoon oilfield in Southern Iraq is expected to exceed 200,000 bpd in the third quarter of 2013, above the level of 170,000 bpd needed to start recovering costs, according to Reuters.

Majnoon started a shutdown in June for maintenance and to bring new production facilities online.

Under the Majnoon development plan for 2013, Shell has submitted a budget of $1.384 billion as a “total recoverable cost” for field development.

Operations at the field are expected to resume in the first quarter of 2013 with output of 44,600 bpd, followed by 50,200 bpd in the second quarter, 201,700 bpd in the third, and 202,700 bpd inQ4.

The service contract at the field requires Shell to boost output to 1.8 million bpd for a fee of $1.39 a barrel, though it started talks with Baghdad this year to reduce the target to 1 million bpd.

“The scope of work for First Commercial Production involves following key elements: production optimisation from the existing well stock, drilling of 18 new wells and de-bottlenecking and upgrading of existing facilities,” the Majnoon development programme showed.

Production at the field was around 45,000 bpd when Shell took over in 2010. Shell has since spent around $1 billion, and planned to invest another $1 billion in 2012.

Shell’s other partners in the Majnoon venture are Petronas (30% share) and the Missan Oil Company, representing the Iraqi State (25% share).

(Source: Reuters)

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