(3 March 2016) Eni and Kogas inaugurated today, in the presence of Iraqi Vice-Minister for Oil Fayadh Hassan Nima and other representatives of the Iraqi government, three new generation systems for the treatment of oil, gas and water known as Initial Production Facilities (IPF) for the Zubair field in southern Iraq. The plants, together with the already existing plants that were renovated and modernized, have increased the capacity for oil and gas treatment of the Zubair field by about 650 thousand barrels per day. The IPFs are located in the Hammar area (4 trains with a total capacity of 200 thousand barrels per day), Zubair and Rafydia (with a capacity of 50 thousand barrels per day each). Both Hammar and Zubair already started production and exports, while Rafidiya will catch up by the end of March. In addition to processing operations, these systems have a water injection capacity into the reservoir of 300 thousand barrels per day, which will be crucial to increase the production of Zubair hydrocarbons. Finally, the IPFs allow to maximize the utilization of associated gas. Zubair, located near Basra in southern Iraq, is operated by Eni on behalf of the Iraqi state company South Oil Company (SOC). The current production of the field is approximately 360 thousand barrels per day while the plan is to reach 850 thousand barrels per day over the next few years. Production and development activities are regulated by a technical service contract. Since the inception of the latter, production at Zubair doubled, until reaching the current level. Eni has been present in Iraq since 2009. Equity production in 2015 amounted to approximately 40 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. (Red)
