Kurdistan Oil & Gas Development

[Anthea]

Alarabiya

Sparks fly as workmen weld together a pipeline set to carry crude from the self-ruled Kurdistan region of Iraq to Turkey, defying the central government and shifting the energy balance of power in the region. Some 600 kilometers away, Iraqi officials in Baghdad’s heavily fortified oil ministry are threatening dire consequences if the pipeline is completed, but appear powerless to prevent the Kurds exporting oil without their consent.


Workers continue operations on an oil pipeline in Iraq's Kurdistan region despite central government threats

Turkey’s courtship of the Kurds has strained relations with Baghdad, which says the pipeline would set a precedent for other provinces to pursue independent oil policies, potentially leading to the break-up of Iraq.

“They tell us to finish it as soon as possible because they don’t want the Iraqi government to do something... [but] it cannot do anything,” said an engineer at the site in the northern Kurdish province of Duhok.

“This is very important for Kurdistan because it will benefit the economy.”

At an estimated cost of $200 million, the 281 km pipeline will reduce the autonomous region’s reliance on Baghdad.

For the Turks, it will open up a new energy corridor and allow them to scale back their dependence on Russia and Iran for oil and gas.

Neither side has been deterred by the United States, which has urged both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey to abandon the project.

“The export of oil and gas is not a monopoly of any single entity to be decided in Baghdad,” KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said in a speech in London last month. “Indeed, it is our duty as Iraqis under the federal constitution to pursue export routes for oil and gas to secure our future.”

‘Last-minute decision’

A trench dug through fields parched by summer heat marks the future course of the pipeline, which was initially designed to supply gas but later converted for oil and re-routed toward Fishk habour, a strategic point where the borders of Iraq, Turkey and Syria converge.

It is a highly sensitive region in the eye of three overlapping storms: civil war in Syria, the contested frontier between Arab Iraq and Kurdistan, and a three-decade-long conflict involving with Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey.

Workmen now laying the final stretch of the pipeline are on track to finish in September, with initial flows of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) expected.

Once it reaches Fishk habour, now just 10 km away, it remains to be seen whether the pipe will be tied into the existing line running from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan at a metering station controlled by Baghdad, or beyond there, either before the Turkish border or after it.

“I think it will be a last-minute decision,” said a Kurdistan-based industry source on condition of anonymity.

As much as 200,000 bpd of crude from Kurdistan used to flow to world markets through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, but those exports dried up last year in a row over payments for oil companies operating in the northern enclave.

In recent years, the Kurds have signed their own contracts with the likes of Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp and Total antagonizing Baghdad, which claims sole authority to manage the exploration and exports of Iraqi oil.

The two sides recently began a new round of negotiations to resolve their differences, which are rooted in a fundamental disagreement about the degree to which power should be centralized in Baghdad.

“I believe if this [pipeline] system is up and running it will help expedite a compromise,” said another industry source in Kurdistan on condition of anonymity. “At any rate, this will not stop the pipeline between the KRG and Turkey.”

‘Made in Turkey’

Under a hot sun, three teams work in parallel, digging the way forward, welding and bending the pipeline into shape.

Workers dressed in blue overalls, many of them Iranian, pause to rest in the only refuge from the sun’s scorching rays, inside the pipeline, which has the words “Made in Turkey” stamped on the outside.

“It is difficult work,” said a laborer from the Iranian city of Isfahan, sweat sticking his hair to his forehead. “We came here because there is no money in Iran because of the sanctions.”

Tehran, under international sanctions that have slashed its oil exports to their lowest level in decades, shares Baghdad’s animosity towards Turkey and also objects to the pipeline, which would help compensate for missing Iranian crude in the market.

“If Ankara gives the green light for KRG oil to flow through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, then all options are open for the central government, including severing ties with Turkey and taking this issue to the international community,” an Iraqi government official close to the oil industry said.

Undeterred, the Kurds are already planning a second pipeline with a higher capacity of 500,000 bpd, a publication overseen by the KRG’s department of foreign relations shows.

Kurdish officials say the Iraqi constitution entitles them to exploit their reserves and this year passed a law codifying their right to export unilaterally if Baghdad fails to pay oil companies’ dues within a given period.

Hundreds of trucks already transport oil across the border to Turkey, circumventing the federal pipeline system and riling Baghdad, which has threatened to sue Genel Energy, the first company to export directly from Kurdistan.

As yet they have taken no action and volumes have risen to around 70,000 bpd, industry sources say.

The Kurdish region aims to raise exports to one million bpd by the end of 2015, and to two million by the end of the decade.

“In Iraq you have to force certain issues and then you let the politics follow,” said a KRG official familiar with oil and gas issues. “Now the conversation is changing to: what happens to the money?”

In the past, Baghdad received the proceeds from Iraqi oil exports and passed on 17 percent of the country’s revenues to Arbil, where Kurdish officials have long complained that they end up getting closer to 10 percent.

Instead, Kurdistan wants to collect the revenue, take its share, and hand the remaining 83 percent over to the central government. Baghdad rejects this and a Turkish proposal under which it would disburse the revenues.

An Iraqi oil official said the central government could be reconciled to the pipeline, as long as it manages the exports and revenues:

“The Kurds’ message to Baghdad is very clear: pay us, or the Turks will.”

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/busines ... -push.html

[Aslan]

LONDON, July 10 (UPI) -- An energy company operating in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq said Wednesday it was on the cusp of transitioning from exploration to production.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum announced its field development plan for the Shaikan field was approved and a drilling program was under way at a number of wells in the reserve area.

"Our next immediate target is to complete the company's transition from an exploration to a key producer in the Kurdistan Region in 2013," Chief Operating Officer John Gerstenlauer said in a statement.

Gulf Keystone, a company with headquarters in London, indicated in June the Shaikan field could hold as much as 10.5 billion barrels of oil. The semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government said production would start at 40,000 barrels of oil per day and reach 250,000 bpd by 2018.

KRG and the central government in Baghdad are at odds over laws related to the oil sector. Leaders from both sides have met in their respective administrative centers to discuss what the U.N. mission said were a wide range of issues.

[Aslan]

Oryx Petroleum Corp. (OXC), Canada’s newest publicly traded oil explorer, is testing whether a property near its main Kurdistan discovery has similar reserves.

In the third quarter, Oryx plans to drill a well at its Banan site, which may have the same type of reserves to its Demir Dagh discovery in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq, Chief Executive Officer Michael Ebsary, 52, said.

“The fact that it looks like it could be a joined-up structure is that much more exciting and could mean we have one of the most significant structures in Kurdistan,” Ebsary said in an interview in Bloomberg’s Toronto bureau on July 5. “We go after a large accumulation of reserves in one location. That is what does attract big players who can pay big checks.”

Oryx, based in Calgary with offices in Geneva, has seven exploration licenses covering 10,602 square kilometers focused on Africa and the Middle East, including the Hawler property west of Erbil in Kurdistan. The Demir Dagh discovery holds 160 million barrels of proved and probable reserves and 200 million of contingent resources, according to Ebsary.

The company expects to produce about 10,000 barrels of oil per day in the first half of 2014, rising to about 30,000 barrels by the end of 2014 and 100,000 in two to three years, Ebsary said.
Addax Example

Oryx was spun out by Addax & Oryx Group Ltd. in an initial public offering in May that raised C$250 million ($239 million), 29 percent less than planned, to fund expansion in Iraq and Africa. Closely held AOG, established by Swiss-based billionaire Jean Claude R Gandur in 1987, owns about 80 percent of Oryx, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. AOG sold Addax Petroleum Corp to China’s Sinopec Group for C$8.3 billion in 2009.

The wager on Kurdistan hasn’t yet convinced investors. Shares of Oryx have fallen 4.7 percent since the initial public offering on May 9 at C$15, after marketing the stock at between C$20 and C$23 apiece. That’s compared with a 2.2 percent decline for the Standard & Poor’s/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index in that period. The shares fell 0.3 percent to C$14.26 at 10:21 a.m. today in Toronto.

“Generally it’s very difficult to make an investment in these smaller oil producers now because of issues like demand and the overall macro picture,” John Stephenson, a Toronto-based fund manager with First Asset Investment Management Inc. who helps manage C$2.7 billion and doesn’t own Oryx shares, said in an interview.
Political Risk

“It’s really difficult for them to make money,” Stephenson said. “If you add political risk to that, you’re taking on a huge risk.” The International Monetary Fund forecasts economic growth of 9 percent for Iraq in 2013 and 8.4 percent in 2014.

The company will consider a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange “sometime next year” in order to draw more investors who may not be comfortable with purchasing stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange, he said.

“The Hawler block in Kurdistan underpins the valuation of this company,” said Gerry Donnelly, an analyst at FirstEnergy Capital in London, in a phone interview. “Oryx comes with a track record of having delivered in what were perceived maybe six or 10 years ago as some of the more riskier jurisdictions of the international oil and gas industry.”
Scared Investors

The stock’s performance doesn’t worry Ebsary, who says investor sentiment is based on the lack of success of other oil producers. The stock is rated “buy” by four of the five analysts covering it, with one recommending investors hold the shares, which have the potential to rise 42 percent in the next 12 months, according to the consensus target price of C$20.30.
“Oil and gas investors are a bit scared at the moment,” he said. “They are not looking for opportunities like us which have huge growth opportunities.”

Oil prices may help. Crude is more likely to climb to between $120 and $150 per barrel than decline to $50 in the next five years, bolstering the company’s plans for rapid expansion in the region, said Ebsary. Brent, the global benchmark, rose 32 cents to $108.15 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

“There’s been a lot of talk about shale oil and other forms of energy and a lot of people are thinking and betting a little bit on a lower oil price,” he said. “We are bullish on oil prices.”
Pipeline Prospects

Oryx must be able to get its oil out of Kurdistan and there’s uncertainty about the prospects of a pipeline connecting the region with Turkey, said First Energy’s Donnelly.

“For Turkey to go down this road and accept crude coming from Kurdistan against the wishes of a sovereign nation, could be a little bit tricky,” said FirstEnergy’s Donnelly. The company also needs Iraq and Kurdistan to reach an agreement on oil transport, he said.

The pipeline to Turkey as well as political disagreements between the Kurds and Iraqis will likely be sorted out by the time the company is ready to start producing about 100,000 barrels of oil per day in a few years, Ebsary said.

The company is in a “very comfortable position,” he said.
Selling Oryx at some point is a “strong possibility,” Ebsary said, adding the company doesn’t have a specific strategy to become a takeover candidate.
“AOG has no plans to sell Oryx Petroleum at this point,” Karen Saddler, a Geneva-based spokeswoman for AOG, said in an e-mail today.

Kurdistan has improved in the eight years since Ebsary first traveled to the area and had to wear a helmet and flak jacket, he said.
“You felt you were in a militarized zone,” Ebsary said.

[Anthea]

Oil Voice

Gulf Keystone Petroleum announces spudding of Shaikan-10 development well

Gulf Keystone, a leading independent E&P operator in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, is pleased to announce that further to the approval of the Field Development Plan for the Shaikan field, a world class commercial discovery, announced on 26 June 2013, the Company has commenced its development drilling programme with the spudding of Shaikan-10. In parallel, production operations from the newly commissioned Shaikan production facility ("PF-1") are scheduled to commence shortly.

Shaikan-10 to launch aggressive development drilling campaign

Shaikan-10, the Company's first development well, spudded on 5 July 2013, launching a development drilling campaign as part of the approved phased development of the Shaikan field, which Gulf Keystone operates. The well is being drilled with the Weatherford 842 rig, which previously drilled Shaikan-8, also part of the agreed phased development. This rig also drilled the Shaikan-1 discovery well in 2009 and the Bijell-1 discovery well in 2010.

Shaikan-10 will be followed by a minimum 3-rig development and production drilling programme, which will commence in early 2014.

Shaikan-10 is intended to become a production well and is to be tied to the second Shaikan production facility ("PF-2"), which is currently under construction. Analogous to PF-1, it is of modular design and its production capacity will be of 20,000 barrels of oil per day ("bopd"). Shaikan-2 and -5, already completed as production wells, will also be tied to PF-2.

PF-1, which has now been completed and commissioned, when combined with PF-2 later in the year, will allow the Company to achieve its immediate short-term production target of 40,000 bopd.

Commenting on today's announcement, John Gerstenlauer, Chief Operating Officer, said:

"It is a recognised fact that Gulf Keystone has done outstanding work during the exploration phase and we continue targeting significant exploration upside of the Shaikan field with Shaikan-7, which is currently being drilled.

Our next immediate target is to complete the Company's transition from an exploration to a key producer in the Kurdistan Region in 2013. The spudding of Shaikan-10 is yet another step in the right direction.

The implementation of our Field Development Plan has started and we will shortly commence production from one of the world's largest onshore conventional oil & gas developments. Focusing on our production milestones agreed with the Ministry of Natural Resources, we are working hard to get to 40,000 bopd of Shaikan production from PF-1 and PF-2, and then to progress to 150,000 bopd within 3 years and 250,000 bopd within 5 years."

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Gulf_Keystone ... 659dc.aspx

[Aslan]

Stop worrying about the risks of getting oil out of Kurdistan, City scribblers declared yesterday – Genel Energy has proved it is viable. UBS brokers think the fact former BP boss Tony Hayward's Genel has successfully managed to transport the lucrative black stuff out of the region is a reason to buy its shares.

There has been a political row between Iraq and its autonimous region about duties payable and the export of oil, but UBS said: "Kurdish oil has been reaching international markets by truck for several months with no apparent payment, legal or political issues."

The Aim-listed group, which is run by Mr Hayward with the former Goldman Sachs banker Julian Metherell as finance director, has recently reported a run of good news with strong drilling results from wells at Chia Surkh, Tawke Deep, Ber Bahr and Bina Bawi that UBS thinks has not been appreciated by the market.

They also think the market is undervaluing the company's frontier explorations in Morocco and Malta.

UBS rated it a buy with a 1,035p price target because of these "positive drilling results" and the fact the "risks around exports … from Kurdistan are starting to diminish".

The shares gushed 18.5p to 943.5p but are still below their 2011 float price of 1,000p.

Genel was founded by Nat Rothschild, who retains more than a 7 per cent stake and has certainly been a better investment than his Bumi exploits.

Yesterday, Indonesian coal specialist Bumi agreed to buy the 23.8 per cent stake that Indonesia's powerful Bakrie family holds, a deal which sets up a battle with Mr Rothschild.

The news came after it was confirmed that current chairman Samin Tan was looking to buy the stake in order to clear-up Bumi's convoluted ownership structure.

Mr Rothschild, Bumi's co-founder and 15 per cent shareholder, attacked the proposal, arguing that it would give Mr Tan too much control of the business. If the deal goes through, Mr Tan will own nearly half of Bumi's shares.

Bumi's shares have been suspended since April, amid an investigation which showed $201m (£133m) had gone missing in a key unit.

The benchmark index was back on form after a blip on Tuesday. Signs that the Federal Reserve will maintain its economic stimulus longer than previously expected cheered traders. The FTSE 100 recovered 38.45 points to 6,543.41. The update from the Fed sent metal prices up again which whet the appetite of punters to riskier stocks. Eight miners were in the top 10 risers with Mexican gold and silver explorer Fresnillo leading the way, up 114.5 p to 1,018p.

On the mid-cap index, Britvic lost some sparkle after its rival drinks group AG Barr finally walked away from their proposed merger. A £1.9bn deal originally agreed in November was delayed because of a Competition Commission inquiry, which finally cleared a merger earlier this week. But by then Britvic had decided the deal was no longer beneficial and AG Barr yesterday revealed the Robinsons squash group had rejected a new, better, offer. Irn Bru owner AG Barr fizzed up 0.5p to 522p as it said it would not make another offer; Britvic fell 10p to 512p. SuperGroup added 49p to 858p on growing sales as it reported annual pre-tax profits of £51.8m.

Recruiter Hays was 4.9p better off at 99.9p when it announced a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter, boosted by a better UK jobs market.

Centaur Media, the under-pressure publisher of The Lawyer and Marketing Week, said sales had fallen 3 per cent in the year to June, but pre-tax profits before exceptional items should be up 8 per cent. It published a 1.25p gain to 38.75p.

Flogging mobile phones from shops on the high street is no longer a licence to print money the City warned and that means it is time to ditch Carphone Warehouse.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said they think the sales growth for mobiles is nearing "maturity" and the "market is becoming distinctly unattractive" so Carphone's business model across Europe is flawed.

They said Carphone has "outlined plans to offer its know-how and IT platforms to third-party retailers" and "this could become a material profit generator", but with few details of how this will work it is difficult to value.

Until there is more detail, Morgan Stanley rated it underweight with a 165p price target but it was static at 248p.

Pottery group Portmeirion has bought the long leasehold of its Stoke-on-Trent head office and the company made a 12.5p gain to 642.5p.

Communications group Communisis has won a contract with Lloyds Banking Group and was 12.5p better off at 67p.

Tiddler Conroy Gold and Natural Resources produced a positive mineral report and it edged up 0.2p to 1.52p.

[Anthea]

Sterling Global Operations (SGO) has been engaged by the Iraqi government and several international oil companies to find and remove landmines and other explosive remnants of war from throughout Iraq's Kurdistan region to ensure the area is safe for oil exploration and agricultural and commercial development.

The projects are an example of SGO's expansion of its operations into support of the international oil and gas industry. In Kurdistan, SGO is carrying out surveys; risk assessment; demining; battle area clearance and removal of explosive remnants of war.

"This is an area of Iraq that has excellent potential for energy and agricultural development," said Andy Gleeson, SGO Iraq Mine Action project manager. "It is territory that has obviously seen extensive fighting over a long period of time. That means it's dangerous to drill without knowing there aren't explosives in the way. Also, you can't build new homes, roads or schools in a place possibly contaminated with landmines and other unexploded ordnance."

The projects, several of them multi-year, have a value of more than of $10 million. Gleeson said the area to be cleared will total several million square meters. "You can't just hope these dangerous materials aren't there," he said. "You have to be sure."

Landmines and unexploded ordnances, including cluster bombs, are the items most often found in a project of this type. Surveys and explosives removal will mainly be conducted by Iraqi and Kurdish workers trained and supervised by SGO experts.

"These workers are motivated," Gleeson said. "This is their land, their villages and their families. They want to see an end to all of them being threatened by dangerous explosives."

SGO has cleared more than 100 million square meters of land in Iraq, Afghanistan, other world trouble spots, and military ranges.

SGO has long been involved in force protection and humanitarian demining efforts. The northern Iraq project is an example of SGO's corporate strategy to grow its business, said Matt Kaye, SGO's CEO.

"A key component of our company's strategic plan is to broaden our company's work in the field of energy exploration," Kaye said. "There are a great many areas of our world that have potential to supply the increasing demand for energy; however, a concern about explosives in an area brings exploration there to a halt. We can help them get things moving."

Headquartered in Lenoir City, Tennessee, SGO serves customers with munitions response; intelligence support; logistics; security operations and other services in some of the world's most austere and hostile environments.

http://www.ogfj.com/articles/2013/07/st ... istan.html

[Anthea]

Oil Price

New Pipeline from Kurdistan to Turkey Poses Risk for Relationship with Iraq

While the Kurdistan Regional Government remains unable to resolve its differences with Iraq over the oil sector, its cooperation with Turkey is expanding. Today, the Atlantic Council's Ross Wilson and David Koranyi examine the implications for energy exports from the region.

Overshadowed by the Syrian civil war, rising violence in Iraq, and recent turmoil in Turkey, another problem is simmering in the Middle East. Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) recently reported that a long-mooted new oil pipeline to Turkey should be completed within months. By making possible oil not controlled by the Iraqi central government, this new pipeline and what it represents pose risks for Erbil’s relationship with Baghdad and for Turkey and its ties with both the KRG and the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. They also pose a test for Washington, which has repeatedly urged the factions in Iraq to agree on a nationwide hydrocarbon law and development scheme and weighed in with the Turks and Kurds to delay unilateral steps that would prejudge that effort and be seen as disregarding Baghdad. The parties seem likely to continue to tread in a largely careful manner, and their dance may go on for some time before it reaches a conclusion.

According to media reports, KRG Natural Resources Minister Dr. Ashti Hawrami told a conference in London on June 19 that the KRG aims to complete work on a new oil pipeline to Turkey by the end of September. The line, which will have a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, aims to create an independent route for Kurdish oil exports to Turkey and world markets beyond. Shipments through an existing pipeline controlled by the Baghdad government that runs from Kirkuk in Iraq to Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast were halted last December. The KRG has been reduced to shipping small amounts of oil to Turkey on trucks. The rest of its production has been stranded at home, where it nets a fraction of the prices available on world markets.

The KRG’s determination to deliver oil to international markets is a function of economic need and the opportunity represented by its immense reserves. These have been estimated at 45 billion barrels of oil and three to six trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Many of the world’s largest oil and gas companies are investing billions of dollars there, including American majors Chevron and ExxonMobil. The region’s development is not limited to the hydrocarbon sector. It is abuzz with the construction of new factories, office buildings, roads, hotels, and restaurants. Iraqi Kurdistan stands out as an island in Iraq of stability and private sector-led growth, even if uncertainties on several fronts with Baghdad are obvious liabilities.

Baghdad and Erbil have specific issues with one another over hydrocarbon development strategy, who can sign contracts, and revenue sharing, as well as the future of Kirkuk and territories disputes. Iraqi Kurds and others find noxious the monopolization of power in Baghdad around Maliki, his government’s ties with, if not dependence upon Iran, and its involvement in Syria. Many in Baghdad seem to want to bring the KRG more under the central government’s control or at least to clip its wings. Little or no progress had been made for years on the disagreements that divide the two. If stalemate on big political issues is a reason for Baghdad to stiff Erbil on energy, it almost certainly reinforces the Iraqi Kurds’ interest in going pursing separate deals both as a way to survive and to pressure the Maliki government to deal with the KRG in a more compromising way.

For its part, Turkey sees the KRG and Iraq as an important part of the solution to its energy woes. Turkey’s problematic current account deficit, which has recently ranged between 6.5 and 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, is roughly comparable to its energy import bill–with its rises and falls relating as much to changes in international oil prices as anything else. Ankara wants to decrease its dependence on expensive Russian natural gas and on Iran, a long unreliable energy supplier that US and EU sanctions are making more so. Iraq and its Kurdistan region are one way out of the bind. According to a 2012 International Energy Agency report, Iraq will play a pivotal role in world oil markets in the coming decades and could produce up to 8.3 million barrels a day in 2035, but only if “a resolution of differences over governance of the hydrocarbon sector… opens up the possibility for substantial growth also from the north of Iraq.” According to Hawrami, the KRG could supply up to 3 billion barrels of that.

Left to its own devices, Baghdad may have little obvious interest in accommodating Erbil or Turkey. The KRG and Turkey therefore need to give it incentives–by proceeding slowly, but also surely by taking real steps toward realizing direct energy trade connections if agreement is not soon hammered out. This is why Hawrami’s June 19 pipeline announcement was important. Turkey would like access not just to KRG resources, but also to those in the rest of the country, and it wants a friendly Iraq as well. Remarks by Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz while meeting with KRG President Massoud Barzani in St Petersburg were significant in that regard. Yildiz said that oil and gas production increases should not only be within the framework of KRG decisions, but that, “The Iraqi administration and all Iraqi people should decide together.”

It seems likely that Iraqi Kurdistan will continue to develop its oil and gas resources and export routes to get them out of the country, including direct ones via Turkey. The dance among Baghdad, Erbil, and Turkey over these exports and unrelated issues will also continue. The United States can be a more effective interlocutor with the parties, and especially with its ally Turkey and friends in Erbil, if it seen to put pressure on Maliki to more fully respect Iraq’s broader power sharing arrangements and, more narrowly, to pursue a compact with the country’s north that will give it energy trade latitude, while also paying homage to Baghdad’s prerogatives.

By. Ross Wilson and David Koranyi for Atlantic Council

http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle- ... -Iraq.html

[Anthea]

A unit of Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, has begun a cased-hole test program of the Oligocene reservoir at the Kurdamir-3 well on the Kurdamir block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Talisman (Block K44) BV drilled the well to 2,895 m about 5 km southwest and downdip of the Kurdamir-2 well in what the block coventurers interpret to be a thicker portion of the Oligocene reservoir. The Kurdamir-3 well penetrated the oil column without encountering the gas cap, said partner WesternZagros Resources Ltd., Calgary.

Talisman recorded oil shows and supportive log data indicative of oil over the majority of the Kurdamir-3 Oligocene section penetrated. The Oligocene comprises a gross interval of 372 m of naturally fractured marlstones and dolomitic limestones including an interpreted 194 m of porous reservoir interval.

By comparison, the Kurdamir-2 well penetrated a gross interval of 300 m of which 140 m comprises the Oligocene porous interval. Coring and wireline logging operations have ended, and the wellbore is cased with a 7-in. production liner in preparation for testing. No evidence of formation water has been detected.

In the first well test at Kurdamir-3, Talisman will perforate the deepest interval between 2,776 and 2,788 m. Based on initial logging results, WesternZagros believes that the lowest known oil could extend 150 m deeper than that proven in Kurdamir-2.

The test program will then move uphole to focus on testing the potential of the porous reservoir section. WesternZagros expects to complete the Oligocene testing program in the second half of August.

Meanwhile, the 184 sq km Kurdamir block 3D seismic survey has been completed in order to define more clearly the areal extent of the Oligocene, Eocene, and Cretaceous reservoirs. Following the completion of seismic operations on Talisman’s neighboring block, the seismic crew will shoot a 3D survey on the northern part of the Garmian block in August.

The North Garmian survey will cover 258 sq km to define more clearly the areal extent of the Oligocene reservoirs. The North Garmian and Kurdamir 3D surveys will be combined to provide contiguous seismic coverage in order to determine whether the Oligocene reservoir is connected as one large structure across the two blocks. The data will be used to decide on future appraisal and development well locations and to refine resource assessments.

Elsewhere on the Garmian block, a crew is rigging up to drill the Baram-1 well with an anticipated spud date in the first half of August. Baram-1 will explore the potential extension of the oil leg discovered in the Oligocene reservoir of the Kurdamir structure onto the northern part of the Garmian block. Drilling time is 5 months to planned total depth of 3,800 m.

WesternZagros said Baram-1 “is the highest impact well of the 2013 drilling program and has the potential to add gross unrisked mean contingent resources of up to 200 million to 300 million bbl of oil equivalent in the Garmian block and, if the structure is shown to extend onto the existing Kurdamir discovery, an additional 500 to 600 MMboe in the Kurdamir block.”

Also on Garmian, the Hasira-1 appraisal and exploratory well is drilling ahead at 1,860 m after setting 20-in. casing at 1,014 m. The next casing point is at 2,050 m. Setting the third intermediate string of casing is planned for 3,900 m, just above the Jeribe reservoir, before drilling to a planned total depth of 4,100 m in the Oligocene reservoir.

WesternZagros plans to complete the well either in the Jeribe or the Oligocene reservoir depending on drilling and test results. Drilling time is estimated at 7 months.

Also on Garmian, WesternZagros drilled two of the planned three wells in the Upper Bakhtiari formation. This shallow, inexpensive well program recovered formation water and oil and gas at subcommercial rates. The wells have been suspended, the third well canceled, and the rig released.

The Upper Bakhtiari program was exploring low-cost oil production potential in the South Garmian area but was not viewed as a high-potential program to add greatly to the Company's resource estimates.

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2013/07/tal ... -iraq.html

[Anthea]

The capture of the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain near the Turkish border by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) from al-Qaeda-linked Islamist groups has activated Ankara’s Kurdish phobia once again, given the close ties between the PYD and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging a campaign of terror in Turkey for autonomy.



Turkey’s age-old fear is that any political advances toward autonomy or independence by the Kurds in contiguous regions near its border will also encourage separatism among its own restive Kurds. Turkish-Kurdish relations, however, are proving to be more complex than meets the eye. Ankara’s fears about Kurdish political ambitions has not prevented the growing energy ties between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), even if this cooperation could be paving the way to independence for Iraqi Kurds.

Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, remain at odds over how to share Iraqi oil and gas revenues despite recent friendly overtures between KRG President Massoud Barzani and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. These overtures peaked with the visit by Maliki to Erbil on June 9 and the return visit to Baghdad by Barzani on July 7.

It was agreed during these contacts to form a series of joint committees to study the sources of disagreement between the sides on territorial, energy and budgetary issues and provide advice on how solve them. Results are still coming, but few on either side are bracing themselves for any major breakthroughs. Meanwhile, the KRG continues to push its independent plans for its oil reserves unabated.

KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said in recent an interview, reported on by Al-Monitor on July 7, that estimated crude-oil reserves in Northern Iraq, excluding reserves in areas in the region whose ownership is disputed with Baghdad, stand at 45 billion barrels “and possibly even more.” He added that preliminary estimates for natural-gas reserves stood at between 100 or 200 trillion cubic meters.

With such reserves, Northern Iraq can not only finance itself as an independent entity, with good prospects for international recognition, but also stands to be one of the richest regions of the Middle East. Not surprisingly, Baghdad continues to reject the independent deals Erbil has signed with international oil companies, including Turkish companies, calling them illegal under the constitution.

Erbil, for its part, accuses Baghdad of withholding the KRG’s fair share of the country’s oil revenues, and argues that its agreements with international companies are legal under its current status in the constitution. The argument rages on with no apparent end in sight, despite the recent pleasantries between the sides. Meanwhile, Washington continues to pressure Erbil and Ankara to work with Baghdad on energy issues in order not to endanger Iraq’s fragile territorial integrity.

This has, however, largely failed so far. The fact that the largest American oil companies are doing business with the KRG undermines the US position, a point frequently highlighted by Turkish officials. Ankara says if the United States is so concerned, it should chastise its companies first.

For example, Barzani, who headed a high-ranking delegation to the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on June 20-22, held talks with senior Chevron officials and was assured of the company’s full commitment to its production-sharing agreement with the KRG.

In St. Petersburg, Barzani also met Alexey Miller, the chairman of the Russian Gazprom Neft Company, which has a growing stake in Northern Iraqi energy, too. Miller is also reported as having “reiterated that his company will continue its operations in Kurdistan.”

All in all, Barzani acted more like the leader of an independent state than the head of a mere administrative, albeit autonomous, subunit of Iraq during this gathering of government and oil-industry representatives. One of his most crucial meetings in St. Petersburg, however, was with Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz.

Tellingly, this meeting came a few days after Yildiz’s counterpart in the KRG, Hawrami, said during a June 19 press conference in London that the long-debated oil pipeline between Northern Iraq and Turkey’s Mediterranean coast would be completed by the end of September.

With this pipeline, Kurdish oil will enter the currently inactive pipeline between Kirkuk and Ceyhan in Turkey at the Fishkhabur pumping station near the Turkish border. From there, it will flow to the port of Ceyhan for use in the Turkish market and for exporting to world markets. The KRG, which is unable to use the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, has been sending small amounts of its stranded 1 million barrels of oil to Turkey by road tanker.

It hopes to send an initial 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) once the pipeline is up and running. Hawrami said during his London press conference that they would be able to export over 1 million bpd by December 2015, and 2 million bpd by 2019, once new pumping stations are constructed. He added that the KRG is also interested in exporting some of its estimated 3 to 6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey and beyond after its domestic needs are met.

Ankara, whose ties with the Maliki government are tense for reasons which have also to do with other developments in Iraq and the region, and not just Turkey’s increasingly strategic energy ties with the KRG, says it wants to increase energy cooperation with Baghdad.

Pointing to Turkey’s own hunger for energy, the Atlantic Council’s Ross Wilson (a former US ambassador to Turkey) and David Koranyi indicated in a recent brief that Ankara also wants to decrease its natural-gas dependence on Russia and Iran. Ross and Koranyi wrote, “Turkey would like access not just to KRG resources, but also to those in the rest of the country, and it wants a friendly Iraq as well.”

According to the Cihan news agency, Taner Yildiz told Barzani during their meeting in St. Petersburg that Turkey was prepared to do what was necessary for normalization of ties between Erbil and Baghdad. Yildiz said, “With its north, south, east and west, Iraq as a whole remains extremely important for us.”

But with the actual situation unfolding on the ground, news of the pipeline connecting Northern Iraq and Turkey is a harbinger of new tensions, as Wilson and Koranyi point out. They argue, “By making possible oil not controlled by the Iraqi central government, this new pipeline and what it represents pose risks for Erbil’s relationship with Baghdad and for Turkey and its ties with both the KRG and the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.”

Meanwhile, eyes are trained on the recent fighting between the PYD and Islamist Arab groups in northern Syria, but little attention is paid to those who say that part of the reason for this confrontation is control of the region's oil fields. According to Reuters, on July 18 the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting had spread into the largely Kurdish province of Hassakeh, and battles are raging around the Rumeilan oil field, about 200 km (125 miles) east of Ras al-Ain.

Kurdish units have already seized an oil field called “Suwaidiya 20” and there are clashes in Suwaidiya Oil Region 3, according to the observatory. Turkey is closely monitoring the headway the PYD is making in northern Syria, and will no doubt do what it can behind the scenes to try and prevent it from taking control over these reserves. It will be interesting, however, to note how Ankara responds to moves toward regional autonomy by the Syrian Kurds, when its own energy ties with Northern Iraqi Kurds is encouraging the emergence of an independent Kurdistan.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origina ... rward.html

[Anthea]

DNO International initiates record production from first Tawke horizontal well

DNO International ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas company, announced that it has initiated production from the first horizontal well in the Tawke field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq at a record rate of 25,000 barrels of oil a day.

The Company previously reported that the Tawke-20 well had flowed an average of 8,000 barrels a day from each of the first four of ten fractured corridors penetrated by a 600-metre horizontal section in the Cretaceous reservoir interval of the field. Each of the remaining six corridors also flowed an average of 8,000 barrels a day. Following completion of testing, the well has been placed on production but is subject to wellbore and surface facilities limitations. Currently, the most productive vertical well in the Tawke field is flowing at an average daily rate of 10,000 barrels.

"We are pleased with the exceptional results from this well and excited about the prospects for horizontal drilling at Tawke," said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, DNO International's Executive Chairman. "Our next task is to optimize production from Tawke-20 while assessing the potential of horizontal wells in terms of drilling efficiency, well recovery factor and overall Tawke field output capacity," he added.

Drilling operations are underway at a second horizontal well, Tawke-23, and the Company is preparing to commence drilling of a third horizontal well, Tawke-21.

DNO International holds a 55 percent interest in and operates the Tawke license. Genel Energy plc holds 25 percent and the Kurdistan Regional Government the remaining 20 percent interest

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/DNO_Internati ... ab9a7.aspx

Anthea: 20% is a good deal for Kurdistan - some people on RBK would lead others into believing that Kurds do not hold any interests in Kurdistan oil fields and that the Kurdish oil industry is run entirely by outside interests - not true at all -

[Anthea]

TransAtlantic%20Petroleum%20provides%20operational%20update%20on%20its%20current%20drilling%20program

TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. (TSX:TNP) (NYSE-MKT:TAT) provided an operational update on its current drilling program.

Operational Update

The Company increased its rig count from two to five rigs in July 2013 and significantly increased its drilling activity in accordance with its three-part strategy in Turkey.

Southeastern Turkey – Selmo Field Redevelopment

TransAtlantic recently completed the Selmo-13H (100% working interest), the first horizontal well the Company has drilled in the Selmo Field. The well was drilled to a total measured depth of 7,966 feet in 22 days at a cost of approximately $2.2 million (15% below AFE and 50% below initial engineering estimates). Initial tests indicate that the well will produce approximately 200-525 barrels of oil per day ("BOPD") from the LSD zone from a natural completion. This was TransAtlantic's first completion in the LSD zone. As a result of the success of Selmo-13H, TransAtlantic will likely add additional LSD horizontal wells to its 2013 drilling schedule. The Company also plans to drill at least four additional horizontal wells in the MSD formation of the Selmo Field this year.

Southeastern Turkey – Molla Drilling Program

TransAtlantic recently completed the Bahar-2H horizontal well (100% working interest) which was the Company's first attempt to drill a horizontal well within the targeted Bedinan H-1 sand that was encountered in the Bahar-1 well. The Company was unable to encounter and stay within the target zone. A two-stage frac resulted in uneconomic production. TransAtlantic is currently plugging back to test the Hazro section, which tested 150 BOPD in the Bahar-1, and depending on results of the test, may elect to re-drill the well below 8,000 feet as a vertical Bedinan H-1 well.

Bahar-1 production has gradually declined to approximately 230 BOPD with no water production. The Company recently ran gas lift equipment on the well to increase production. Since December 1, 2012, the Bahar-1 has produced approximately 60,000 barrels of oil.

TransAtlantic will continue to delineate the Bedinan zone with vertical wells until 3D seismic of the area is available, which the Company expects will be in early 2014. TransAtlantic commenced an 800 square kilometer (300 square mile) 3D seismic program over Molla and the surrounding areas in May 2013.

TransAtlantic is currently drilling the Catak-1 (100% working interest), a vertical well targeting the Dadas shales and Bedinan sandstones from approximately 9,500 to 11,000 feet. The Catak-1 is presently at a depth of 10,300 feet and is preparing to core the Dadas and Bedinan formations. The well encountered multiple oil shows in the Mardin, Hazro, and Dadas shale. The Company is encouraged by the mud logs and shows observed on the well.

In July 2013, TransAtlantic spud the Goksu-5H (100% working interest), the third horizontal well targeting the Mardin zone at a total measured depth of approximately 5,700 feet. The Goksu-5H is expected to cost $2.5 million and achieve target depth by the end of the month. The Company plans to drill five additional Mardin wells in the Molla area this year.

Northwestern Turkey – Thrace Basin Development

TransAtlantic recently drilled its first horizontal well in the Thrace Basin. The DTD-19HK (42% working interest) targeted the Kesan formation at a vertical depth of approximately 3,600 feet and total measured depth of 5,336 feet in Thrace Basin South. The well cost approximately $1.5 million. The Company expects to complete a seven-stage fracture stimulation on the DTD-19HK in the next several weeks and plans to drill three additional horizontal wells in Thrace Basin South.

TransAtlantic recompleted several Thrace Basin wells with hydraulic fracture stimulation in the second quarter of 2013 with the following results:

PLEASE go to link for results table

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/TransAtlantic ... ce75b.aspx

The Company also recompleted the Baglik-1, which tested at 2,000 MCFD and recompleted a well in Thrace Basin North that is producing 500 MCFD. These projects have increased TransAtlantic's Thrace Basin gross natural gas production to 25 million cubic feet per day, the highest level in recent Company history.

In the third quarter, the Company plans to drill the Göçerler-7, a conventional, vertical well targeting the Osmancik formation at a depth of approximately 5,500 feet in Thrace Basin Central.

In Thrace Basin North, TransAtlantic plans to drill six shallow, vertical natural gas prospects using efficient drilling techniques in 2013.

[Anthea]

The Kurdistan Regional Government's sophisticated intelligence network has ensured relative peace in contrast to the rest of Iraq.



SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — At the last checkpoint on the road leading into the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, a driver rolls down his window and a uniformed officer peers into the car.

“Are there Arabs onboard?” he asks. Kurds are waved through while Arab passengers are questioned, and almost all are told to get out of the car for further checks by the US-trained Kurdish security forces.

Strict control of access to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region has helped insulate it against the violence that plagues the rest of the country, where bombings and shootings are a daily reality that has driven thousands of Arabs, including Christians, north seeking refuge.

To illustrate how far removed the Kurdish region is from the security problems of the rest of Iraq, while militants stormed Abu Ghraib prison this week and released 500 convicts, including senior members of al-Qaeda, one of the top headlines in the local Kurdish press was the death of a 14-year-old girl stung by a scorpion.

Stability and security have attracted foreign investors, including some of the world’s largest oil companies, to Iraqi Kurdistan, dramatically improving the standard of living in a region that was once the most impoverished and repressed in Iraq. After years of suffering, even Kurds who complain about corruption and lack of transparency have a stake in maintaining the peace and security of the region.

“The main reason we have been successful in maintaining security is the full cooperation of the Kurdish people with the security forces,” one of the most senior security officials in the region told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

Kurdish security forces known as Asayesh closely monitor everyone, including the local population but particularly outsiders, drawing on a web of informants across all walks of life. Many Kurdish households are on the government payroll, creating a network of patronage that engenders loyalty to the quasi-state.

"If I see anyone acting suspiciously while driving my taxi, I won't hesitate to call 106 [the emergency number] and report them to Asayesh,” said a taxi driver in the city of Sulaimaniyah who has worked with the Asayesh for the last 17 years. “As a matter of fact, I have called that number more than a 100 times and reported people who I believed were acting out of the ordinary."

Asked how the Asayesh operated, he said there were more than 1,000 other taxi drivers like him in Sulaimaniyah alone working closely with the security services, often on a voluntary basis, to help identify potential threats. “There is not a place in this city where we don’t have informers. Ordinary people happily inform on each other and we respond to the most trivial of incidents because we can’t afford to alienate the people who help us.”

The use of intelligence has so far proven effective in the Kurdish region while the central government insists on using devices such as "bomb detector" ADE651, which has had little effect in detecting explosives at checkpoints. Advice on the UK’s foreign-travel website strongly discourages all but essential travel to the whole of Iraq “except the Kurdistan region.”

Emma Sky, who was the governor of Kirkuk province from 2003 to 2004 and later became a political adviser to the US General Ray Odeirno in Iraq, attributed the stability and security of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to the skill of its security services.

“[The KRG] has a professional and sophisticated intelligence apparatus which is loyal to the KRG, and which carefully monitors suspicious activities and controls access into the region," Sky said in an email interview with Al-Monitor.

Sky, who is currently a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute, where she lectures on the New Iraq and Middle East Politics, considers the legitimacy of the KRG another important factor in maintaining security in the region.

"All political parties [in the KRG] recognize the political process and compete for power through elections. In the rest of Iraq, the legitimacy of the government is disputed by key constituents who feel excluded from the political process," she said.

But not all Kurdish areas are immune to violence. Around 100 km away in volatile, ethnically diverse Kirkuk, where a security trench is being built around the city, stray plastic sandals and pools of blood marked the spot where a suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy cafe on July 13, leaving 41 mostly young men dead.

Two days after the bombing, I asked a group of young men smoking shisha at the Penjweni cafe in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah whether they ever worried about being targeted. "That thought is not even in the back of my mind,” one young man replied while his friends smiled and nodded in agreement.

A monument in a park in Erbil serves as a reminder of the danger. On it are engraved the names of 117 people who were killed when two suicide bombers tore through the offices of the region’s ruling party in 2004. Following those attacks, the senior official said the security forces had changed their approach, thwarting attacks in the making, sometimes outside the confines of the region.

"We have managed to keep the terrorist groups in check both inside and even outside the region. We have taken the fight to the terrorists … we foil their plots as they are being hatched.”

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origina ... urity.html

[Anthea]

The Baghdad-Erbil oil tussle may be the biggest deterrent to Iraq remaining unified, as the autonomous northern Kurds strengthens its hold over its own oil resources, and the Shiite central government struggles to dictate policy.



For years now the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq’s Shiite-led central government in Baghdad, have been continually butting heads over control of the vast northern oil resources, which experts rank as the world’s fifth-largest.

And as with anything involving oil – Iraq’s black gold –the continued issue of money is creating palpable tension between the two governments. Despite supposed progress and visits between the two governments to resolve the major oil disputes, each still stands at opposite ends of a “black divide.”

Much of the conflict over the oil issue is from different interpretations of the Iraqi Constitution, which was drawn up on May 2005, following the toppling of Saddam Hussein in the 2003 US-led military invasion.

The goal of the constitution was to create a delicate and legitimate legal balance among the Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and the Iraqi government in the newly democratic Iraq. Oil revenues were loosely laid out in a series of articles within the 33-page constitution.

“Oil and gas are owned by the people of Iraq in all regions and governorates,” according to Article 111 of the Iraqi Constitution.

“All powers not stipulated in the exclusive powers of the federal government belong to the authorities of the regions governorates,” according to Article 115.

Kurds believe this gives them the constitutional right to manage their own oil contracts and exports through the Taq Taq-Khurmala-Fish Khabur gas pipeline into Turkey, set to be complete this year.

The pipeline will open the door to Europe and the world, without having to pass through the central government.

But Baghdad opposes the “reading of the legal framework,” and believes it has authority to sell Iraqi resources abroad, according to a report by The Oil and Gas Year on the Kurdistan region for 2013.

It is important to note that there is no legal law distinguishing exclusive power to the central government for oil and gas.

“We want our fair share of the wealth of Iraq, and that is why we are fighting for the unity of Iraq,” Asthi Hawrami, Kurdistan Regional Government’s minister of natural resources, said in an interview in the report.

But the KRG has shown conflicting points of view to its supposed urge for a unified country.

For the first time in nearly five years, the KRG took the step to ship about 30,000 tons of crude oil to ports on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast in July 2012, showing a continued defiance to Baghdad’s claims.

But many in the Kurdish region feel it is necessary for Kurdistan to begin to defy Baghdad because of its constant failures to follow the Iraqi Constitution.

Baghdad refused to pay $3.5 billion to the KRG for exports that passed through Baghdad-controlled pipelines since 2011, despite an agreement between the central government and the KRG in 2012.

Baghdad also cut the KRG’s federal budget and expanded its own in order to pay for other needs “such as the military, which is deducted from the federal budget before the Kurdistan Region is paid its constitutionally mandated 17 percent, effectively shrinking the amount KRG, receives,” the report said.

Much of the reduction was cited by Kurdish officials as a way to hit back by the central government for the continued defiance of the KRG in granting oil contracts outside of Baghdad’s control.

Kurdistan was only given $537 million to pass onto contractors for the export of oil, despite Kurdistan asking for $3.5 billion, according to the report.

Further complicating the divide between Baghdad and Kurdistan, is a recently passed law by the Kurdish Parliament titled Law No. 5, The Law of Identifying and Obtaining Financial Dues to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from Federal Revenue.

The KRG hopes to gather billions owed to the Kurdish region by retaining profits made from the exportation of oil. But it will only do so if Baghdad continues to default on the payments Kurdish officials claim the region has been owed since 2003.

The KRG states the central government owes at least $20 billion to Kurdistan: $6 billion would go to the Peshmarga, $4 billion would go to oil contractors and the rest would go to victims of Saddam’s genocide against the Kurds.

“The law sets out a pathway to implement Iraq’s Constitution.” Ashti Hawrami, KRG’s minister of natural resources, said at an oil conference in June in London.

“We would prefer to work with the federal government in Baghdad, but we must also recognize that if one part of the country is dysfunctional it should not be a drag on the successful areas of the country,” Hawrami said in the report.

Kurdistan also has ignored Baghdad’s warnings against the completion of the Taq Taq-Khurmala-Fish Khabur pipeline, slated for completion by September of this year.

The pipeline will allow Kurdistan to ship crude oil from the region into Turkey and could completely change the game of energy power in Iraq, according to an article from Reuters.

An official report from the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources said the enclave hopes to produce at least one million barrels of oil per day by 2015.

The oil rich province of Kirkuk is also playing a major role in the “black divide”.

In Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution Kirkuk and other territories Arabized by Saddam’s Baathist regime, are supposed to be returned to Kurds.

It comprises of three parts, and was supposed to be fully implemented by 2007. Only one part of the article has been completed, and recently Maliki expressed his intent to move onto the second cycle of de-Arabization of disputed territories, making the mandate delayed by five years.

Kirkuk produces about 260,000 bpd, according to the Middle East Economic Survey.

It is one of the major oil producers for Iraq, which may be behind Baghdad’s reluctance to relinquish the territory to Kurdistan, as the northern enclave continues to grow in power and defy the central government.

The pipeline near the city also connects to pipelines that run into Basra, Baghdad and other major cities in Iraq. It also connects to the city of Bayji, which is the central point to run to Fish Khabur and into Ceyhan in Turkey.

In 2012 the KRG sent Peshmarga forces to the city to fill security vacuums after a string of explosions and attacks, which Baghdad labeled as a tactic by the KRG to seize the land and resources of the area.

Even though Kurdistan may not like to admit it, it is still dependent on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to send its shipments into Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast as a reliable route to transport Kurdish oil.

http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/270720131

[Anthea]

Kirkuk Now

Kirkuk oil export to Turkey stops again



Due to a bomb blast, the export of Kirkuk oil to the Turkish Cihan port has ceased once again.

According to the officials of the North Oil Company, a bomb blast caused a stop in the oil exports to Turkey.

The officials told Reuters that the bomb was detonated last night, July 27, near Mosul city which damaged the pipelines.

The officials stated if similar attacks are not carried out again, the damages will be repaired within the next 72 hours.

http://kirkuknow.com/english/index.php/ ... ops-again/

[Anthea]

Oil Voice

Genel Energy plc, the London listed exploration and production company and largest independent oil producer in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, announces its unaudited half year results to 30 June 2013.

Results1 summary

1 Results are from continuing operations and are unaudited
2 Includes a one-off benefit of $54.5 million following a change in the basis of the depreciation charge in respect of Oil and Gas assets with effect from 1 January 2013
3 Free cash flow is cash flow from operating activities less capital expenditure

Highlights

Net working interest production averaged 41,500 bopd (+7% from 1H 2012), generating revenue of $161 million (+31% from 1H 2012)
Material resource additions at Tawke and Bina Bawi confirmed by important appraisal success
Significant progress made in commercialising Miran and Bina Bawi oil and gas assets
Major exploration success in the KRI: a material new oil discovery at Chia Surkh of c.250-500mmbbls with commercial discoveries at Tawke Deep and Ber Bahr
Exploration and appraisal success added c.500 mmboe (50%+ increase) to contingent resources
Work programmes progressed across the African exploration portfolio: high impact offshore drilling programme to commence in 4Q 2013
Clear evidence of positive political momentum and independent KRI export infrastructure nearing completio
Strong first half results and financial position with $867 million of net cash at the end of the period

Outlook

2013 guidance maintained: average net working interest production expected to be 45,000 - 55,000 bopd, generating revenues of $300-400 million
Independent KRI export pipeline infrastructure to be completed by the end of 2013
Development programmes at Taq Taq and Tawke on track for net working interest production capacity of 140,000 bopd by the end of 2014
Appraisal and development programmes at Miran and Bina Bawi continue: early oil development underway, export and domestic gas monetisation options being
progressed; targeting export Gas Sales Agreement between the KRG and Turkey by 4Q 2013
Material exploration drilling programme continuing in the KRI on Chia Surkh, Taq Taq Deep and Miran Deep, targeting c.1.0 bn boe gross unrisked resources
High impact African exploration programme targeting 3.3 bn boe net unrisked prospective resources to commence in 4Q 2013: first well to spud in Morocco

Commenting today Tony Hayward, chief executive, said:

"Genel has had a strong first half of the year making material progress in exploration, appraisal and development. Success with the drill bit has added c.500 mmboe to our contingent resource hopper - an increase of more than 50% - while the development programmes at both Taq Taq and Tawke continue to build production capacity, and look set to benefit from the expected completion and operational start-up of the KRI export pipeline by year end. The appraisal success at Bina Bawi and Miran has created a transformational gas business and Genel, with our Turkish heritage, is uniquely placed to benefit from the KRG-Turkey Gas Sales Agreement which we expect to be signed by year end. The strong combination of operational and political momentum we are enjoying in the KRI will be further reinforced by an African exploration programme that will commence in the fourth quarter of the year. We have a lot to look forward to."

Link to full account details:
http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Genel_Energy_ ... c562b.aspx