KNOC moves to start commercial production of oil with additional discovery in Iraq

DUBAI -- A joint oil exploration project involving South Korea's state-run oil corporation in Iraq has made an additional discovery of oil in the Middle Eastern country, significantly increasing the prospective for the possible start of commercial sales in the near future, the company said Sunday.

The additional discovery was made at the Hawler minefield in Iraq's northern Kurdish region where the Korea National Oil Corp.

(KNOC) and Switzerland's Oryx Petroleum had jointly made their first discovery of some 600 million barrels of oil in an estimated reserve in March.

The KNOC has a 15-percent stake in the exploration minefield with Oryx and Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government each owning 60-percent and 20-percent stakes, respectively.

The KNOC did not release any estimates for the additional discovery, noting a future study may soon offer such a figure.

Still, the company said the minefield may begin yielding 10,000 barrels of oil per day within the first half of next year.

"(The companies) plan to seek an early start to production with about 10,000 barrels per day within the end of the first half of 2014 by completing a formation evaluation and construction of production facilities," Lee Seung-kook, the head of the KNOC's Iraq office, currently based in Dubai, told reporters.

Along with the Hawler project, the KNOC is also taking part in exploration projects in the Bazian and Sangaw South mines, both also in the Kurdish region.

Currently, the Kurdish region is believed to hold nearly 450 million barrels of oil in reserve, about 30 percent of Iraq's total oil reserve and enough to supply South Korea's total consumption for 50 years. (Yonhap News)