The Achilleas and Front Kathrine, each a 2-million bbl oil carrier charted by OAO Lukoil international marketing and trading unit Litasco, have begun loading in the southern Iraqi port of Basra to transport buyback oil as part of the West Qurna-2 project.
Achilleas will depart for Augusta, Sicily, where oil will be unloaded for processing at Lukoil’s ISAB refinery in Priolo, while Front Kathrine will deliver oil to customers in the European Union.
The Sea Triumph carrier departed with the first shipment from Basra on Aug. 19, delivering 1 million bbl of buyback oil to the port of Augusta on Sept. 1 (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2014). A majority of that oil was sent to the ISAB refinery.
Lukoil receives buyback oil under the service contract in an effort to recover the company’s costs from the project’s first phase.
Production from West Qurna-2 currently totals more than 300,000 b/d, up from the 280,000 b/d reported at the time of the first shipment.
