U.S.-based energy services major Halliburton has won a $95 million tender from Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom, to test and complete 11 wells at the Badra oil field in Iraq, the Russian company said on Thursday.
Testing of the first well is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2012. Gazprom Neft plans to have six wells to be completed by 2013.
"The work carried out by Halliburton will facilitate better understanding of the geological structure of the field. Production will commence once the final field development plan is completed in 2013, in line with the terms agreed with the Iraqi government," Gazprom Neft said in a statement.
The Russian company acts as an operator of the Badra deposit, and has a 30-percent stake in the project. Other participants include South Korea's Kogas with 22.5 percent, Malaysia's Petronas with 15 percent and Iraq's state-owned Oil Exploration Company with 25 percent.
Badra's reserves are estimated at about three billion barrels of oil. Production is due to start in 2013 and reach 170,000 barrels per day or about 8.5 million tons per year by 2017 and maintain this level for seven years.
Investment in the field development is estimated at about $2 billion.
Earlier in May, Halliburton signed a strategic cooperation deal with Gazprom to develop and implement new oil and gas technologies in global exploration and production projects.
