The Iraqi oil ministry and newly established Dhi Qar Oil Company are reviving plans to boost production and refining of crude oil from the Nassiriya field in southern provinces at a capacity of 300,000b/d, delayed from 2014 due to the emerged IS violence, reported Reuters.

At the time, the initial cost of the integrated project was estimated at b with a group of foreign companies signing onto the bidding round, including Lukoil and PetroChina.

However, it is not clear if the same companies will be contracted for the project and if the ministry opts for direct talks with international firms, instead of holding a bidding round, Dhi Qar’s Head of Field Operations, Kareem Yasir, clarified. He added that this was a significant development since Nassiriya had more than 4b barrels in reserves and the potential to produce 200,000 b/d, compared with a current daily output of 70,000 barrels produced by South Oil.

The Dhi Qar fields were originally supervised by the state-run South Oil Co, recently renamed Basra Oil Co., to be handed over to the Dhi Qar Oil Co. The company is to oversee three other oil fields, including Garraf, which is already in production,  and the Saba field expected to come online this year with an initial output of 30,000b/d, wrote Trade Arabia.