Lukoil eyes Iran deal, Iraq drilling positive

Lukoil hopes to conclude negotiations with National Iranian Oil Company on two oilfield development projects in the first half of 2017, Lukoil’s vice-president and head of Middle East upstream operations said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, Gati Al Jebouri said the talks with NIOC on the Abe Timur and Mansuri fields were nearing the contractual terms stage.

“We have presented our technical proposals and our views. We are discussing their feedback … we would like to have some decision during the first half of 2017 from the Iranian side but there are no strict deadlines to this process,” he said.

Al Jebouri also elaborated on the company’s exploration work in Iraq’s Block 10, were Lukoil drilled the first exploration well last year.

“It has proven to be successful,” he said, adding that the quantity of crude contained in the deposits would be roughly equivalent to the some 14-billion barrels in the Lukoil-operated West Qurna-2 field. Production in the latter field stands at 400,000 bopd, Al Jebouri said.

Lukoil and Japanese partners Inpex aim to drill one or two more wells to reach a more accurate reserves estimate for Block 10, which it operates on a 60% stake. In 2015, geophysical services contractor BGP acquired 2,022 km of 2D-seismic data.