In mid-June, the Shell-Petronas consortium tapped Dodsal Group of Dubai to build a 79-km (50-mile) pipeline to carry oil from Majnoon to a crude oil gathering station for transfer to a pumping station located near Basra’s export terminals. The contract is valued at $106 million.

In addition, a $60-million contract was awarded to Turkey's Enka Construction Co in July to install and operate two production facilities, as well as to install two crude storage tanks and four pumping units that will connect to a pipeline network at three well-pads.

Shell targets output from Majnoon hitting 175,000 barrels per day in 2012. However, a bomb attack at the Zubair oil storage depot in early June highlighted continuing concerns about security in the region as operations of foreign oil companies ramp up. Lead operators on other oilfields in southern Iraq are ENI of Italy, U.S.-based ExxonMobil, Britain-based BP, China's CNDC and Lukoil of Russia.