Despite the ongoing political turmoil in Iraq, sales of oil the state-run Korea Gas Corp. is producing from oil fields in the region has grown over the past four years, the company said this week.

As of this month, the gas giant’s accumulative sales of oil produced in the Zubair field near Basra of southern Iraq has exceeded 10 million barrels.

“The turmoil in Iraq is occurring in northwestern Iraq, which is located a considerable distance from the Zubair field, so it has not disrupted our output,’’ said Lee Kyung-hoon, a KOGAS spokesman.

Thanks to the stable supply, KOGAS’ profit from oil trading over the past four years is estimated at some 1.03 trillion won ($1 billion).

KOGAS started international oil trading in 2011, a year after it secured a 23.75 percent stake in the Zubair field, one of the largest oil fields in the world. International partners including Italy’s state-run oil producer Eni, U.S. Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Iraq’s government-run Missan Oil Company formed a consortium to take over the remaining stakes in Zubair.

The company expects an even better performance in oil sales as the stakeholders of the Zubair field plan to gradually increase daily oil production to 850,000 barrels from the current 330,000 barrels.

Industry watchers forecast the Zubair oil field to produce approximately 6.4 billion barrels over a 20-year period.

Besides Zubair, Kogas said it will also start producing oil from a second field in Iraq by the end of the year.

“The company has reasons to believe that the Basra oil field, located in southeastern Iraq, will also stay intact,” Lee said.

Meanwhile, KOGAS plans to keep close tabs on some of the gas fields in the area ― specifically Akkas and Mansuriya ― that have been affected by the political situation. There had been rumors that KOGAS is considering selling its stake in the Akkas gas field, but the company said it has no such plans as of now.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)