Hundreds of jobs protesters break into Iraq’s West Qurna-2 oilfield

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hundreds of protesters demanding jobs broke into Iraq's giant southern West Qurna-2 oilfield and wrecked offices early on Monday, March 4 police and employees at the field said, according to Reuters.

West Qurna-2, which is being developed by Russia's Lukoil, is not yet producing oil but workers at the site said construction of a major crude oil processing plant had been disrupted by the protest.

Officials of the state-run Southern Oil Company said there was no disturbance around any of the producing oilfields in the south of Iraq and production was proceeding as normal.

Iraq's oil ministry said the West Qurna-2 incident would lead to a rethink of security at the field, which is a key element in Iraq's drive to become one of the world's largest oil exporters.

Samsung has a major contract with Lukoil to build crude facilities at West Qurna-2, which is the world's second-largest undeveloped field with recoverable oil reserves of around 14 billion barrels, according to Lukoil.

"We will re-consider security measures around the West Qurna oilfield after this unfortunate incident," an Iraq Oil Ministry official said.