Iraq and Russia’s OAO Lukoil Holding have awarded a $998 million deal to south Korea’s Samsung Group to develop the supergiant West Qurna phase 2 oil field, the Iraqi government said in a statement Wednesday.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Samsung would build a central processing facility for oil production in the field. “Work in the processing facility is expected to finish in 31 months from the start of the work,” Dabbagh said following a weekly cabinet meeting.

Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil ASA were awarded a 20-year service contract for West Qurna Phase 2 in Iraq’s second licensing round held in December 2009. The companies promised to get the southern field pumping at a rate of 1.8 million barrels a day for payment of $1.15 a barrel with first oil planned for early 2013.

Source: Dow Jones & Rigzone