31.08 LUKoil Plans to Extract 1st Oil at Iraqi West Qurna-2 in November

MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) Russias largest private oil company LUKoil plans to extract the first oil from the giant West Qurna-2 field in southern Iraq in November, the companys vice president said Friday.

The oil field will see a solemn launch ceremony at the end of the year. In November, we will produce the first commercial oil, Leonid Fedun said during a telephone conference.

Fedun said he hoped that the company would be able to get back 50 percent of its expenditures in 2014.

LUKoil signed a 20-year contract in 2010 to develop West Qurna-2 in Basra province, which has recoverable reserves of about 14 billion barrels of oil. LUKoil holds a 75 percent stake in the project.