Russia’s Lukoil reported in its Q2 results that it has halted a run of eight consecutive quarterly output declines at Iraq’s West Qurna II field. Output rose from 365,000 b/d in Q1 to 383,000 b/d last quarter, although this was still down 10,000 b/d year-on-year. Lukoil’s 2025 plateau production target (PPT) was amended in May, down from 1.2mn b/d to 800,000 b/d, and the firm aims to reach 480,000 b/d by 2020 (MEES, 18 May). Last quarter’s gains are the first concrete indicator of Lukoil’s work towards this.