Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports At 75,000 B/D - Official

[JWing]

By Hassan Hafidh
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BAGHDAD (Dow Jones)--Crude oil exports from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq have been raised steadily to reach 75,000 barrels a day, an Iraqi oil official said Friday.
"They are now reaching the level of 75,000 barrels a day," the official told Dow Jones Newswires.
Exports from the semiautonomous region resumed in early February after a long dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government in Baghdad, which considers Kurdish contracts with foreign firms are illegal.
"All in all, we are expecting the average Kurdish exports this month to reach around 40,000 barrels a day," the official said.
Norway's DNO International SAS (DNO.OS) said in a recent statement that it has boosted exports from Iraqi Kurdistan to a test level of 50,000 barrels a day. Earlier this month, the company started testing at a level of 10,000 barrels a day.



http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110218-702306.html

[Jerry]

Awesome post!!! Looks like all that DNO drilling is paying off! I'm so happy that the Kurds gave the council the finger when the council wanted to stop them in 07. Way to go north!

[WhiteFeather]

Exports of crude oil from fields in Kurdistan to 100,000 barrels per day
March 3 2011

Sumerian news/Erbil
Ministry of natural resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government Iraq, Thursday, from higher export crude oil from fields to 100,000 barrels per day during March, with references to plans to double exports current 2011 nhayhalaam to 200,000 to 1 million barrels a day by 2015.

Natural resources Minister in the Government of the province asti hawrami speaking at a ceremony organized in Erbil to view book on the work of the Ministry for the past and was attended by "Sumerian" news "," export crude oil from fields in Kurdistan to about 100,000 barrels per day during the month of March, up from 80,000 rate in February last year, the territorial Government Become involved in Iraq and key contributor to revenue in the general budget of the country ".

Added "export hawrami is taukei field by 55,000 bpd and 40,000 field Taq Taq and 7,000 Dana gas produced in the areas of operation, production continues to grow, and reach 200,000 bpd the end of the year 2011, the territorial Government seeks to increase the export of crude oil to million bpd by 2015".

And on the remaining differences between the region and Baghdad including the issue of oil contracts, the Minister of natural resources in the territorial Government to be "his Government agreed with Baghdad to resolve all problems", pointing out that "Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Shahristani free views."

Shahristani has been reaffirmed in a recent interview that the Iraqi Government does not recognize contracts of Kurdistan Regional Government with oil companies, while the Finance Ministry expects to receive the report of the Office of financial supervision until Iraq contracts Erbil. benefits paid

The differences still outstanding between Baghdad and Erbil on petroleum province contracts with foreign companies and oil and gas Act, although the Kurdistan began on 1 June last year to export oil from its fields formally, but soon stopped exporting due to disagreements over dues firms in oil exploration and export continues only about 90 days It stopped since September last year, has resumed exports last month following a new agreement between the province and Baghdad on the territory of 100,000 barrels per day.

[WhiteFeather]

Iraq Oil Exports May Rise to 13-Year High as Kurdish Crude Flows


March 2011


Iraq’s crude exports may rise to their highest level in 13 years as shipments from the northern Kurdish region increase to approach target levels, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said.

“Exports will exceed the current level of 2.2 million barrels a day in March, which would be the highest level since 1998,” he said today at a press conference in Baghdad.

Iraq, home to the world’s fifth-biggest oil reserves, needs foreign investment and expertise to help ramp up energy exports and rebuild an economy shattered by years of conflict, economic sanctions and sabotage. The country has signed 15 gas and oil licenses since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the regime of former President Saddam Hussein and resumed exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region last month.

Iraq resumed exports of crude from its Kurdish region Feb. 3 after ending a dispute over revenue payments that halted them for more than a year.

Shipments from Kurdistan have reached 93,000 barrels a day and are scheduled to reach their target level of 100,000 barrels a day “within a few days,” al-Luaibi said.

The Iraqi government is committed to pay foreign oil companies operating in Kurdistan, al-Luaibi said. The companies including DNO International ASA (DNO) of Norway and Turkey’s Genel Enerji AS are still owed between $400 million and $500 million in unpaid revenue.

Kurdish Dispute

DNO, Addax Petroleum Corp. and other companies halted crude exports after Iraq’s central government stopped reimbursing them for expenses amid the escalating dispute between the ministry in Baghdad and the provincial government.

The central government said that production-sharing agreements between Kurdish authorities and foreign companies were invalid as they allocate to foreign companies a share of the oil they produce. Service contracts adopted by the Oil Ministry that pay foreign producers a per-barrel fee.

Iraq’s exports are expected to rise further after an offshore terminal in the southern oil hub of Basra is opened at the end of the year, al-Luaibi said.

“Iraq’s oil exports are hampered by the lack of export terminals,” he said.

There is still no set date for the signing of Iraq’s Akkas natural gas-field development contract with partners Korea Gas Corp. (036460), known as Kogas, and KazMunaiGaz National Co., Kazakhstan’s state fuel producer, the minister said. The deal has been repeatedly delayed since Nov 14.

Negotiations also continue with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Mitsubishi Corp. (8058) on a project to capture associated gas at oil fields in southern Iraq, he said.

International legal advisers have studied the contract with Shell and Mitsubishi and their recommendations will be raised to the government’s energy committee, al-Luaibi said.

The government wants to produce gas as fuel for power plants, which are struggling to meet domestic demand, and also as a potential export. Severe electricity cuts and rationing have triggered violent and sometimes deadly protests. By Kadhim Ajrash and Nayla Razzouk-Bloomberg