WhiteFeather
11-21-2011, 10:16 AM
Giant Exxon Mobil enters Kurdistan oil market
Kurdistan Regional Government Minister of Natural Resources Dr. Ashti Hawrami speaks at the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil and Gas Conference, Erbil, Nov. 13.
November 19 2011
New contract seen as "dramatic shift in the oil sector in the region."
Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference gathers dozens of oil-and-gas decision-makers in Erbil.
At the opening of the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference in Kurdistan Region's capital city of Erbil on Sunday, November 13, 2011, Kurdistan Regional Government's Prime Minister Dr. BarhamSalihstated that they reached an agreement with the central government to increase the region's oil export volume to 175,000 barrels per day in 2012.
The Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference, organized by the CWC Group in cooperation with the KRG, was organized at the Erbil Convention Center for the period of November 13-15, 2011.
The conference was attended by dozens of international and local oil and energy sector companies to discuss the current situation of the region's oil and gas sector and its future prospects.
The conference was also attended by PM Salih, KRG Minister of Natural Resources, Dr. AshtiHawrami, Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Dr. Kamal Kirkuki, other KRG, central government officials and Parliament members, members of the oil and gas committee of Parliament, foreign diplomats, and oil and gas experts.
Dr. Hawramy gave a speech at the opening of the conference on Sunday, where he announced that his government has signed a production sharing contract with the giant Exxon Mobil company, the world's largest oil company by market value, on October 18 this year.
According to Hawrami, Exxon Mobil has been awarded the exploration and production license of six fieldsin the region, including Al Qush, Bashiqa, Tirman, Betwata, Qara-Hanjeer and an area along the border with Iran.Hawrami did not give further details about the contract or about Exxon's plans for Kurdistan and the volume of investment it plans to make for its exploration and production activities in Kurdistan.
Exxon's Chief Executive Officer, Rex Tillerson, and other officials at the company have refused to commenton the deal."The KRG has for the last few months been in discussions with a number of major oil companies. This resulted in the recent signing by Exxon Mobil of contracts to explore in six blocks," said Michael Howard, an adviser to the KRG.
Tillerson's decision to enter the region comes after a former rival, Tony Hayward, ex BP Chief Executive who is currently the CEO of Vallares PLC, decided to invest US$2.1 billion in Kurdistan through acquiring Genel Energy, who currently has oil contracts with KRG and is producing oil in TaqTaq oilfield.
Hayward, after he was forced out of BP last year, became the CEO of Vallares and now plans to spend US$275 million developing Genel's six oilfields and another US$275 million to buy shares in the 40-plus other oil companies that have contracts with the KRG in an attempt to increase his presence and control in Kurdistan's oil sector.
?We will be participating in the inevitable consolidation among the 41 companies in the Kurdish region,? Hayward announced at a press conference in Istanbul on September 8. ?We want to have the dominant position in the region by building a bigger company.?
Following the recent developments in the oil and gas sector of Kurdistan Region, share prices of oil companies focusing on the region surged dramatically. According to a report by Bloomberg, Petroceltic International Plc (PCI) rose 8 percent in London after earlier jumping 13 percent. Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (GKP) advanced as much as 14 percent.
The contract signed with Exxon Mobil is seen as a dramatic shift in the oil sector in the region. By signing the production sharing contract with the KRG, Exxon Mobil has probably risked some existing contracts with the central government for exploration and production of oil in the country's southern fields, as well as the risk of canceling another agreement currently about to be finalized with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, according to Abul Mahdi Al Amidy, Director of Licensing at the Ministry.
The Oil and Gas Conference emphasized that oil should become a source of blessing for the people of Kurdistan.At the beginning of the conference, a documentary was displayed showing the miseries that the Kurds faced under Saddam's regime.
It claimed that Saddam's tyrant regime used oil money to purchase arms and use them against Kurds by killing them and destroying their villages. However, currently the situations have changed and the KRG is doing its best, with the international oil companies, to reverse this reality and use oil as a source of blessing for the region and its people.
The documentary showed some projects implemented or under implementation by several oil companies in the areas surrounding their blocks, including building schools and hospitals, and power and water projects.
Dr. Salih said in his speech that his government is committed to turn oil from the curse it used to be in the past to a blessing in the future.He also added that, due to the fact that oil has been used against Kurds in the past, there is no way that the Kurdish leadership would compromise their constitutional rights to develop the region's oil and other natural and mineral resources.
Minister Hawrami announced in September that the region has around 45 billion barrels of reserve oil. According to the Bloomberg report, this is more than double the 20.4 billion barrels of crude the U.S. Energy Department estimates lie beneath the sea floor in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico.
PM Salih reiterated that his government is committed to the Iraqi Constitution and that the revenue from every single barrel of oil produced in Kurdistan will be sent to the national reserve and will be used for the whole nation equally.
After a recent visit of PM Salih to Baghdad to discuss pending issues with the central government with his Iraqi counterpart,Nuri al Maliki, and some other central government officials, it is expected that some agreements have been made to solve the oil, disputed areas and Peshmarga forces between Erbil and Baghdad.
During the same visit, the two parties agreed to increase oil export volume to 175,000 barrels per day.Minister Hawrami told the conference that they are capable of exporting this volume, and their target is to increase it to 250,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.
http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-...E7333B5611627A
Kurdistan Regional Government Minister of Natural Resources Dr. Ashti Hawrami speaks at the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil and Gas Conference, Erbil, Nov. 13.
November 19 2011
New contract seen as "dramatic shift in the oil sector in the region."
Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference gathers dozens of oil-and-gas decision-makers in Erbil.
At the opening of the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference in Kurdistan Region's capital city of Erbil on Sunday, November 13, 2011, Kurdistan Regional Government's Prime Minister Dr. BarhamSalihstated that they reached an agreement with the central government to increase the region's oil export volume to 175,000 barrels per day in 2012.
The Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference, organized by the CWC Group in cooperation with the KRG, was organized at the Erbil Convention Center for the period of November 13-15, 2011.
The conference was attended by dozens of international and local oil and energy sector companies to discuss the current situation of the region's oil and gas sector and its future prospects.
The conference was also attended by PM Salih, KRG Minister of Natural Resources, Dr. AshtiHawrami, Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Dr. Kamal Kirkuki, other KRG, central government officials and Parliament members, members of the oil and gas committee of Parliament, foreign diplomats, and oil and gas experts.
Dr. Hawramy gave a speech at the opening of the conference on Sunday, where he announced that his government has signed a production sharing contract with the giant Exxon Mobil company, the world's largest oil company by market value, on October 18 this year.
According to Hawrami, Exxon Mobil has been awarded the exploration and production license of six fieldsin the region, including Al Qush, Bashiqa, Tirman, Betwata, Qara-Hanjeer and an area along the border with Iran.Hawrami did not give further details about the contract or about Exxon's plans for Kurdistan and the volume of investment it plans to make for its exploration and production activities in Kurdistan.
Exxon's Chief Executive Officer, Rex Tillerson, and other officials at the company have refused to commenton the deal."The KRG has for the last few months been in discussions with a number of major oil companies. This resulted in the recent signing by Exxon Mobil of contracts to explore in six blocks," said Michael Howard, an adviser to the KRG.
Tillerson's decision to enter the region comes after a former rival, Tony Hayward, ex BP Chief Executive who is currently the CEO of Vallares PLC, decided to invest US$2.1 billion in Kurdistan through acquiring Genel Energy, who currently has oil contracts with KRG and is producing oil in TaqTaq oilfield.
Hayward, after he was forced out of BP last year, became the CEO of Vallares and now plans to spend US$275 million developing Genel's six oilfields and another US$275 million to buy shares in the 40-plus other oil companies that have contracts with the KRG in an attempt to increase his presence and control in Kurdistan's oil sector.
?We will be participating in the inevitable consolidation among the 41 companies in the Kurdish region,? Hayward announced at a press conference in Istanbul on September 8. ?We want to have the dominant position in the region by building a bigger company.?
Following the recent developments in the oil and gas sector of Kurdistan Region, share prices of oil companies focusing on the region surged dramatically. According to a report by Bloomberg, Petroceltic International Plc (PCI) rose 8 percent in London after earlier jumping 13 percent. Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (GKP) advanced as much as 14 percent.
The contract signed with Exxon Mobil is seen as a dramatic shift in the oil sector in the region. By signing the production sharing contract with the KRG, Exxon Mobil has probably risked some existing contracts with the central government for exploration and production of oil in the country's southern fields, as well as the risk of canceling another agreement currently about to be finalized with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, according to Abul Mahdi Al Amidy, Director of Licensing at the Ministry.
The Oil and Gas Conference emphasized that oil should become a source of blessing for the people of Kurdistan.At the beginning of the conference, a documentary was displayed showing the miseries that the Kurds faced under Saddam's regime.
It claimed that Saddam's tyrant regime used oil money to purchase arms and use them against Kurds by killing them and destroying their villages. However, currently the situations have changed and the KRG is doing its best, with the international oil companies, to reverse this reality and use oil as a source of blessing for the region and its people.
The documentary showed some projects implemented or under implementation by several oil companies in the areas surrounding their blocks, including building schools and hospitals, and power and water projects.
Dr. Salih said in his speech that his government is committed to turn oil from the curse it used to be in the past to a blessing in the future.He also added that, due to the fact that oil has been used against Kurds in the past, there is no way that the Kurdish leadership would compromise their constitutional rights to develop the region's oil and other natural and mineral resources.
Minister Hawrami announced in September that the region has around 45 billion barrels of reserve oil. According to the Bloomberg report, this is more than double the 20.4 billion barrels of crude the U.S. Energy Department estimates lie beneath the sea floor in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico.
PM Salih reiterated that his government is committed to the Iraqi Constitution and that the revenue from every single barrel of oil produced in Kurdistan will be sent to the national reserve and will be used for the whole nation equally.
After a recent visit of PM Salih to Baghdad to discuss pending issues with the central government with his Iraqi counterpart,Nuri al Maliki, and some other central government officials, it is expected that some agreements have been made to solve the oil, disputed areas and Peshmarga forces between Erbil and Baghdad.
During the same visit, the two parties agreed to increase oil export volume to 175,000 barrels per day.Minister Hawrami told the conference that they are capable of exporting this volume, and their target is to increase it to 250,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.
http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-...E7333B5611627A