Russia's largest private oil company LUKoil expects to produce 8-10 million tons of oil a year at the West Qurna-2 oil field in Iraq, a LUKoil vice president said on Wednesday.
Leonid Fedun said next year his company would be ready to start large-scale drilling operations at the field, which should subsequently ensure a production volume of 440,000 barrels per day.
Asked whether LUKoil was interested in participating in a tender for a natural gas field in Iran - due to be held on September 1 - Fedun said it was currently studying all proposals.
"We are closely studying all proposals but at this stage I cannot say that a definitive decision has been made yet," he said.
LUKoil has signed a 20-year contract to develop West Qurna-2, a 13 billion-barrel oil field in the Basra province in southern Iraq as part of a consortium with Norway's StatoilHydro (18.75%) and Iraqi state-owned North Oil Company (25%). LUKoil holds 56.25% in the consortium.
LUKoil CEO Vagit Alekperov earlier said that the consortium would invest a total of $30 billion in West Qurna-2.
The field, discovered in 1973, was explored by Soviet geological survey organizations.
MOSCOW, June (RIA Novosti)
