Iraq launches expansion work in southern Halfaya oil field to double output

Iran has launched the final phase of expansion work on its southern Halfaya oil field in order to double its output capacity in 2018 to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to a state-run oil company.

As part of Halfaya’s expansion, additional facilities to separate crude oil from associated natural gas will be set up, said Adnan Noshi, head of Maysan Oil Co., which oversees oil fields in Maysan province.

Halfaya, operated by PetroChina, is Maysan Oil’s largest field, producing 200,000 of the company’s total output of 380,000 bpd, Noshi said.

Expansion at Halfaya should raise Maysan’s overall output to nearly 600,000 bpd in 2018, he said. Iraq plans to increase its oil output capacity to 5 million bpd before the end of the year.

Output stood at more than 4.7 million bpd, Oil Minister Jabar Al-Luaibi said on April 2.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, Iraq produced at a rate of 4.464 million bpd in March, down by more than 300,000 bpd from late last year. Iraq has reduced its output alongside other oil exporters this year as part of an agreement aimed at boosting crude prices.