Iraq’s Eyes 600,000 b/d Majnoon Expansion Despite Ongoing Delays

16 Sep 2022 Issue: 65 / 37 By: Yesar Al-Maleki

As Iraq’s largest nationally-operated field, Majnoon is of huge symbolic importance to the country’s oil sector. A 200,000 b/d expansion project is three years behind schedule, yet BOC is already eying a further expansion phase.

Iraq’s Basrah Oil Company (BOC) is putting together ambitious plans to increase production capacity at the 240,000 b/d Majnoon oilfield to 600,000 b/d by 2026. Majnoon is the country’s largest state-operated field, with China’s Anton Oil and Houston-based KBR providing “project management and development services.”

BOC has operated the field since Shell and Petronas walked away in 2018, with Shell citing dissatisfaction over Iraq’s technical service contracts (MEES, 18 May 2018). However, BOC’s plans to increase capacity by 200,000 b/d have been hit by lengthy delays. With the original 2020 target missed, the latest plan is for a new two-train 200,000 b/d central processing facility (CPF-2) to be commissioned by end-2023, bringing the field’s capacity to 440,000 b/d. (CONTINUED - 825 WORDS)