Gulf Keystone Petroleum, an oil and gas exploration and production company, said that it has reached an agreement with Kurdistan region of Iraq and Hungary’s MOL to increase gross production capacity the Shaikan Field to 55,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in the next 12 to 18 months.

The company has initiated contracting and procurement activities to implement the 2018 approved capital expenditure of approximately $91 million gross, which includes workovers in existing wells, drilling of a new well, facilities improvement and plant debottlenecking, it said in an operational update.

The remainder of the required capital expenditure which is currently estimated to be between $175 million to $215 million gross to achieve 55,000 bopd gross production capacity is expected to be part of the 2019 investment plan, the statement said.

The cumulative production from the Shaikan Field has 50 million barrels, it added.

Hook-up of the 400m spur pipeline from Production Facility 2 to the Atrush export line is in its final stage and expected to be operational shortly, the company said, highlighting that this will eliminate trucking requirements for a significant share of Shaikan production.
 
Jón Ferrier, CEO, said: "We are very pleased with the progress we have made in recent months on key commercial and operational matters and are delighted that Gulf Keystone is now back to investment mode, with the objective of achieving 55,000 bopd production capacity in the next 12 to 18 months; an important step towards the development of the full potential of the Shaikan field." – TradeArabia News Service