Energy Shell To Start Drilling At Iraq Majnoon Oil Field In July - MD

BASRA, - Dow Jones- Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) along with its partners, Malaysia's Petronas and the Iraqi state Missan Oil Co., will start drilling the first new well in the super-giant Majnoon oil field in July, a company executive said Thursday.

"Shell is targeting July 2011 to spud the first well," Ole Myklestad, managing director of Shell in Iraq told reporters in Basra.

Between 15 and 20 wells will be drilled in Majnoon oil field in southern Iraq and some 27 others will be refurbished to bring output to 175,000 barrels a day by the end of next year from the current 60,000 barrels a day, Myklestad said. The new wells and the refurbish work is part of an early production plan.

The executive also said that Shell has opened a new office in Basra to manage its projects in Iraq. The office is to make sure that "we have the human resources and all the supports required by an international company in Basra."

Myklestad said that there are some 300 Iraqis working on the Majnoon project and they are from the state-run South Oil Co. Some 50 Shell expatriate personnel are also working on the project, he said.

Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/03/31/shell-start-drilling-iraq-majnoon-oil-field-july-md/