The Ministry of Oil announced today, Tuesday, plans to raise production at the "Yamama" reservoir in the West Qurna field to 400,000 barrels per day. It also confirmed reliance on water injection techniques in the reservoir to ensure reservoir pressure sustainability.
The director of the reservoir section at the West Qurna/1 field operation, Arab Abdul Khaleq, stated in a press interview that he shared with "Video News Agency" that "the reservoir section is responsible for managing and monitoring all oil reservoirs in the field," pointing out that "the (Mishrif) reservoir is the main driver of current production, contributing about 95 percent of the total."
He indicated that "there is a development plan for the (Yamama) reservoir that aims to reach a production of about 400,000 barrels per day during 2028 and 2029," noting that "production will start with an initial phase of 20,000 barrels per day before gradual expansion according to pressure readings and reservoir monitoring."
Abdul Khaleq added that "the field includes, in addition to (Mishrif), the (Zubair) reservoir, along with other discovered and undeveloped reservoirs such as (Al-Saadi) and (Moudoud), in addition to the (Yamama) reservoir, which is currently undergoing completion of development requirements to be integrated into the production system."
He explained that "reservoir studies for (Yamama) have been completed, and about 6 to 7 wells have been drilled, subjecting the oil samples to an analytical process that included measuring hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels to determine the technical specifications of the necessary facilities."
Abdul Khaleq noted that "the hydrogen sulfide gas level in the (Yamama) reservoir is high, reaching about 4,000 according to approved measurements," pointing out that "this necessitates designing facilities with special specifications that are suitable and resistant to corrosion resulting from the gas."
He emphasized that if there is a decrease in reservoir pressure at the (Yamama) field, one of the production wells can be converted into a water injection well, with an injection rate of about 10,000 barrels of water per day against a production of about 10,000 barrels of oil per day," confirming that "these measures aim to maintain reservoir pressure and ensure sustainability of production while gradually increasing the utilization rates from the reservoir."