OREANDA-NEWS. Eni and Kogas have introduced today, in the presence of H.E. the Deputy Minister of Oil Fayadh Hassan Nima and other representatives of the Iraqi government, three new generation plants for the oil, gas and water treatment (Initial Production Facilities) in the Zubair field, Southern Iraq.

The plants, which together with those existing, restructured and modernized, have increased the oil and gas treatment capacity to about 650 thousand barrels per day, are positioned in the area of Hammar (4 trains for a total capacity of 200 thousand bd), of Zubair and Rafydia (with a capacity of 50 thousand bd each).  Hammar and Zubair have already started production as well as exportation, whereas Rafydia will be starting by the end of this March.

These plants have a water injection capacity of about 300 thousand barrel per day that will be crucial for Zubair’s hydrocarbons production boost enabling then the maximization of the associated gas utilization.

Zubair, which is located near Bassora, 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 around 360 thousand barrels per day and the plan is to achieve 850 thousand barrels per day over the next few years. The production and development activities are under a Technical Service Contract. Since the contract start, the production of Zubair has doubled up to the current level.

Eni has been present in Iraq since 2009. The equity production in 2015 was around 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.