The West Qurna field was discovered in 1973 and is geographically a structural extension of the Rumaila field, but was designated a separate field and a different asset for development.
West Qurna is split into 2 phases.
Phase 1 has reserves of nearly 9 billion barrels of oil with contracts awarded in 2009 to develop the field.
In November 2009, an Exxon Mobil - Shell joint venture won a $50 billion contract to develop the West Qurna Phase 1.
Phase 2 has reserves of around 14 billion barrels and is expected the project’s total investment will come to $25 billion in the full-scale implementation of the project.
On December 12, 2009 the consortium of Russian LUKOIL and Statoil, a Norwegian company, was awarded a contract for the development of West Qurna-2 field.
Construction started in 2012 and first commercial oil was produced in March 2014.
The current production rate stands at 450,000 bbl per day and in 2015 the field had achieved a total of 20 million tons of oil.
Despite having been on stream for over 60 years, it is believed that the Rumaila–West Qurna field still holds around 40 Bb of remaining recoverable reserves in both developed and undeveloped reservoirs.
With the lifting of sanctions and the entry of international companies into operating this supergiant, it should be producing for many years yet.
