Official: Iraq's major West Qurna-2 field starts production at around 120k barrels per day

BAGHDAD – Iraq's oil minister says Russia's Lukoil-led group has begun pumping oil from the massive West Qurna-2 oil field in southern Iraq.

At a Saturday inauguration ceremony, Abdul-Karim Elaibi announced that production had started at 120,000 barrels per day increasing to 400,000 barrels per day by the end of this year.

The 14 billion barrel field is 490 kilometers (305 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Since 2003, Iraq has awarded dozens of oil and gas deals to international energy companies — the first major investments in the country's energy industry in more than three decades.