Total SA begins production at Bolivia's Itau field

Feb. 21, 2011
Total SA has begun production at the Itau gas-condensate field on Block XX, Tarija Oeste, 400 km south of Santa Cruz city in Bolivia’s Andean Cordilleras foothills.

Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21--Total SA has begun production at the Itau gas-condensate field on Block XX, Tarija Oeste, 400 km south of Santa Cruz city in Bolivia’s Andean Cordilleras foothills.

The first phase of the development, which came on stream on Feb. 2, is designed to produce 1.5 million cu m/d of gas, which will be processed in facilities of the neighboring San Alberto field. Most of the production will be exported.

Additionally, Total said that the Block XX joint venture also submitted a development plan that by mid-2013 aims to increase Itau’s production to 5.0 million cu m/d from the current 1.5 million cu m/d. The plan is subject to approval by Bolivia’s state-owned Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos.

Total declared the Itau gas-condensate field commercial in 2009, 10 years after its discovery. At the time, Total expected Itau would be bought on stream during 2010 at an initial 50 MMcfd (OGJ, Aug. 4, 2009).

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].