Kurdistan Oil & Gas Development

[alan131210]

And If you watch Kurdish Tvs they always show projects going on in makhmour, Kurdish flag everywhere, all govt departments have KRG logo so Its part of KRG and has been since 2003 and Barzanis last visit in 10/2011 announcing makhmour not part of 140 article areas finalized it's status.

[alan131210]

[talsor]

Kurds resume shipping oil for export following payment of foreign company dues by Baghdad

By Ali Al-Yasseri

Azzaman, March 31, 2012

The threat by Kurds to halt shipping their oil via national pipelines for export has prompted the Iraqi government to pay the foreign firms working in their semi-independent region.

The Kurds had signed several deals with foreign firms for the development of oil fields in their autonomous region comprising the northern provinces of Arbil, Dahouk and Sulaimaniya.

Currently, the Kurdish fields produce up to 100,000 barrels a day which they have been shipping through national pipelines for exports

But the Kurds slashed their shipments by half and threatened to halt them unless the government went ahead and paid foreign oil firms working in their region.

The firms working in Iraqi Kurdistan have service deals and rely on exports to collect their expenditures and profits.

“The government has agreed to pay $650 to oil companies working in Kurdistan,” said Finance Minister Rafia al-Isawi.

The Kurds had agreed for the royalties from exporting oil originating in the Kurdish region to go to government coffers on the condition that the all foreign firm dues were covered by it.

The deal on exporting oil from the Kurdish fields solves only one of the thorny issues in the relations between the central government and the Kurdish regional government in Arbil.

The Oil Ministry says deals with foreign firms specifically aimed at developing national wealth must be approved by the central government in Baghdad.

Oil majors developing oil fields in Iraqi Kurdistan are not allowed to compete for contracts by the Oil Ministry unless submitting a declaration certifying the suspension of their activities in the Kurdish region.

[alan131210]

Haha , well played KRG

[alan131210]

Erbil, March 29 / March (Rn) - Tony Hayward, chief executive of Genel Energy, listed in London, said the company is actively looking to acquire the assets of oil exploration in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, according to "Reuters".

Hayward said that Genel is not ready to pay high prices to buy companies in Iraqi Kurdistan after the entry of Exxon Mobil, the U.S. region to raise prices, but it still looks to the assets there, explaining comments he made in February.

"We continue to look for new opportunities in Kurdistan of Iraq and as we said, we look forward to other parts of Africa and the Middle East."

He said the company actively looks forward to new opportunities and negotiations are taking place. But he did not identify the companies that conducted the negotiations with them.

Hayward said that Genel is looking for opportunities in Kurdistan, which concluded similar deals to increase its stake in the franchise Chia Sorkh in Kurdistan in January last year.

Genel and raised its stake in Chia Sorkh estimated reserves of about 305 million barrels of oil and gas to 80 percent from 20 percent and paid $68 million versus 40 percent share and $26 million for a stake to 20 percent of my company Long Ford and Bethuel Petroleum.

http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread ... 686871e158

[talsor]

Haha , well played KRG

It has been a long time , so this one deserve a better laugh

[alan131210]

Haha , well played KRG

It has been a long time , so this one deserve a better laugh

like Barzani said they are nothing but a bunch of losers who hate the progress Kurdistan is going through and they want us to be like them , lol naaaaaaaaaaaat

[alan131210]

1/4/2012

Taha Zangana , general director in the Natural resources ministry announced : from last year his ministry has intensified its efforts for oil exploration and extraction in Kurdistan , and day by the the quantity and quality of oil activities increases significantly , he said " we will be producing 500,000 barrel of oil per day by next year end" .

http://knwe.org/DirejeHewal.aspx?Jimare ... Besh=Hewal

[alan131210]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- International companies recently named by state oil officials and the ministry of oil in Baghdad as being involved in talks to develop the Kirkuk oil field have written to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) with assurances that they have signed no long-term contracts with the North Oil Company, Rudaw has learned. They also said the KRG would be kept informed of any future activities in Kirkuk or adjacent areas.

The KRG Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) said in a statement last week that neither Iraq’s oil ministry nor the state-owned North Oil Company had the right to unilaterally award contracts for developing the ageing Kirkuk field. Citing Article 112 of Iraq’s permanent constitution, the MNR said that any decisions to develop the Kirkuk oil fields should also involve the KRG and Kirkuk governorate.

Iraq’s oil minister Abdul-Kareem al Luaibi said at the beginning of March that he was considering offers by international oil companies to upgrade production at the Kirkuk field. He named BP, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes as the main companies involved in the discussions. Last week, Hussein Gholan, deputy director of the state-owned North Oil Company in Kirkuk, told journalists that oil giant BP had signed a preliminary agreement with NOC to develop the Kirkuk oilfield.

Since then, according to a Rudaw source close to MNR, Schlumberger and Baker-Hughes, both of which have operations in the Kurdistan Region, have written to the KRG clarifying their activities in the Kirkuk area and provided assurances to keep the KRG fully informed of any future intentions to work in and around Kirkuk. They both denied signing memorandums or any other agreements regarding the Kirkuk oilfield.

For its part, BP has not yet signed any agreement with the North Oil Company, Rudaw learned from a reliable Erbil-based source. But sources close to private security firms operating in the Region and the KRG Interior Ministry say a high-level team from BP stayed in Erbil this week, using it as a base to visit the Kirkuk oilfield and conduct technical assessments at the Avana dome, one of three domes in the Kirkuk structure. The sources said, however, the BP team had suddenly decided to cut short its trip without completing its mission and had now left because they could not be assured of any further security assistance to travel from Erbil to Kirkuk.

“They were taking advantage of the security and stability of the Kurdistan Region to engage in activities that transgressed both KRG regulations and Iraq’s constitution,” said the Interior Ministry source. He also said it was surprising that BP should allow itself to be dragged in to the sensitive issue of Kirkuk by Iraq oil ministry officials. “It looks like they were poorly advised legally and politically,” he said.

The Rudaw source said that BP had not informed KRG of its activities.

The KRG statement of March 26 stressed that the Constitution required that the Kirkuk field be part of a joint management process involving KRG.

http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/4581.html

[diako_ber]

Iraq's northern Kurdish semiautonomous region has halted oil exports over a payment row with the central government in Baghdad, causing further deterioration in its relationship with the country's Arab-led government.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has unilaterally struck scores of deals with oil companies in recent years, even though Baghdad says it has no right to do so. The two sides struck a tentative deal in 2011 by which the Kurds send the oil to Baghdad, which sells it, and each side then takes 50 percent of the revenues.

In a statement issued late Sunday, the region's Ministry of Natural Resources said Baghdad failed to send any money since May, even though it had been exporting 50,000 barrels per day. They said only two payments of $514 million have been made with the last made in May 2011.

"After consultation with the producing companies, the Ministry has reluctantly decided to halt exports until further notice," the statement said. "There have been no payments for 10 months, nor any indication from federal authorities that payments are forthcoming."

It added that oil exports will be resumed once payment issue is resolved, adding that the production will be diverted to the local market for processing and refining to generate an alternate source of cash flow for the producing companies.

Last week, Iraq's Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi said Baghdad already approved payment of $560 million to oil producers in the Kurdish region but it was awaiting final audits.

The Kurds are at odds with the Baghdad government on a host of issues, ranging from the development of oil resources in its territory to the status of disputed territories including the oil hub of Kirkuk.

Tensions between the two have increased since last November when the Kurds announced that U.S. giant Exxon Mobil signed a deal to explore for oil in the region. Baghdad warned Exxon could risk existing agreements with Baghdad.

Another point of contention is Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi. Al-Hashemi, the highest ranking Sunni Arab official in Iraq, is wanted for arrest by the Shiite-led government who claim that he ran death squads and fled into exile in the Kurdish region.

Iraq's Interior Ministry last month demanded that Kurdish leaders arrest al-Hashemi before he could flee the country, but the vice president traveled to Qatar Sunday on what he said was an official visit to several countries.

The Kurdish move came as the Iraqi Oil Ministry reported the highest oil exports in March since 1989, thanks to a new offshore export terminal in the Gulf.

Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said Monday that March oil exports averaged 2.317 million barrels a day that generated $8,475 billion.

February's oil exports averaged 2.0137 million barrels per day, down from an average of 2.107 million barrels per day in January. February's sales grossed $6.595 billion.

Although Iraq sits atop the world's fourth largest proven reserves of conventional crude, about 143.1 billion barrels, decades of sanctions, war, sabotage and neglect have battered the sector.

Since 2008, Iraq has awarded 15 oil and gas deals to international energy companies, the first major investments in the country's energy industry in more than three decades.

 

Baghdad aims to raise daily output to 12 million barrels by 2017, a level that would put it nearly on par with Saudi Arabia's current production capacity. Many analysts say that target is unrealistic, because of the degraded state of the industry's infrastructure after wars and an international embargo that lasted more than a decade.

[alan131210]

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) is honoring its oil exploration contracts in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, the Kurdish minister for natural resources said in disputing a report from Iraq’s government.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest energy company, hasn’t halted the agreements in Kurdistan, Ashti Hawrami, the natural resources minister, said yesterday in an interview in Washington. Iraq’s oil minister said Exxon Mobil confirmed in a letter April 1 that it has frozen its contracts with Kurdistan.

“What comes out of Baghdad is about 90 percent, with respect, rubbish,” Hawrami said yesterday. The regional government hears from Exxon Mobil on an “almost daily basis,” as the Irving, Texas-based company is “committed” to all its contracts in the region, he said.

Tension between Iraq’s government and Kurdistan’s leadership is mounting as the U.S. seeks to encourage a unified Iraq after withdrawing troops at the end of December. Hawrami is part of a delegation to the U.S. led by Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, who is scheduled to meet with Vice President Joe Biden this week.

Alan Jeffers, an Exxon Mobil spokesman, said the company didn’t have any comment regarding contracts in Kurdistan. The government in Baghdad refuses to do business with companies working in the Kurdish region.

Halted Exports

Relations between the Kurds and Iraq’s government soured April 1 when the Kurdistan Regional Government, which exports crude using a pipeline controlled by Iraq, stopped deliveries. The Kurdish Ministry of Natural Resources said Iraq failed to pay about $1.5 billion owed to oil producers since May 2011.

A dispute over oil revenues between Iraq’s government and Kurdish authorities led to a yearlong halt in exports from the region that ended in February 2011.

Iraq holds the world’s fifth-biggest reserves of crude, based on statistics from London-based BP Plc (BP/), and it is seeking to boost shipments to rebuild an economy recovering after years of conflict.

“It’s a loss for Iraq if they continue with this madness of this policy,” Hawrami said in the interview. “It has to be resolved in a few weeks and months ahead.”

He said the Kurds will resume the shipments when they get “clear understanding” that Iraq will pay for the oil.

The Kurdish region is producing about 100,000 barrels of oil a day after cutting off the shipments, with most of the product refined and consumed locally, Hawrami said.

Trucked Through Iraq

Some refined product is trucked through neighboring Iran because there aren’t other routes “at the moment,” Hawrami said. Iran is used only for transit and the government doesn’t sell to Iran, he said. It’s unclear whether the shipments to Iran’s ports breach economic and financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European allies.

Iraq asked Iran and Turkey to curb oil exporting from Kurdistan across their territories, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi told a news conference yesterday in Baghdad.

Most of the crude exported by tanker from Kurdistan is sold at lower prices to other nations at Iran’s port of Bandar Abbas, he said. “We have indications and detailed reports with numbers about crude smuggling to Iran,” Luaibi said.

Iraq only exports crude through government terminals and “doesn’t know where the money from the oil smuggling in Kurdistan is going,” he said. Kurdistan produced 68.11 million barrels of oil last year, of which 33.64 million weren’t shipped via official channels, Luaibi said.

Iraq’s crude exports in March rose to 71.83 million barrels, or 2.32 million a day, the most since 1980, Asim Jihad, a spokesman for the Iraq Oil Ministry, said. The exports generated $8.475 billion, with an average price of $118 a barrel, he said.

Hawrami said the regional government is “not in the business” of breaking any laws.

The Kurdistan government is seeking contractors to build a crude-oil pipeline from Kurdistan through Turkey, Hawrami said. Construction would start this year and be complete by late 2013, he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-0 ... -says.html

[alan131210]

02.04.2012

British oil and gas company Heritage Oil Plc's shares rise more than 7 percent after the company discovers dry gas in its Kurdistan well in Iraq.

The company says the gas was found in a reservoir interval above the main reservoir and that it plans to continue drilling within the main reservoir.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Braden Purkis says: "The test results are positive as it provides further evidence of a possible commercial gas accumulation on the Miran block."

Shares of the company were trading up 7.8 percent at 148.70 pence at 0835 GMT on Tuesday making it one of the top gainers on the London Stock Exchange.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46936059

[alan131210]

Kurdish oil minister Ashti Hawrami , has confirmed the names of the six exploration blocks awarded by the Kurdistan Regional Government to ExxonMobil:

* Al Qush, northwest of Erbil city and formerly assigned to Komet Group but withdrawn for lack of development;
* Bashiqa, southeast of Al Qush town;
* Pirmam in Erbil;
* Betwata;
* Qara-Hanjeer, southwest of Chamchamal; and,
* a sixth block located along the border with Iran near the Penjwen border crossing.

Source: http://www.dowjones.com/

[alan131210]

this news is as important as the news of a kurdish state declaration for me




2012/Apr/05

Today Friday, Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani met with ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson at the place Barzani is staying at.

In the meeting ExxonMobil chief executive praised the economic boom Kurdistan has been enjoying and named Kurdistan as one of the vital partners of ExxonMobil.

Regarding the works of ExxonMobil in Kurdistan ,Rex Tillerson reaffirmed his company's commitment to honor the contracts his company had signed with Kurdistan to explore and drill oil in Kurdistan as he had announced previously in March at his company's meeting in New York.

Barzani then for his part expressed his government's full support for the works of ExxonMobil in Kurdistan in all fields .

http://www.peyamner.com/PNAnews.aspx?ID=272098

[alan131210]

05/04/2012 20:09

SULAIMANIYAH, April 5 (AKnews) – Kurdistan Workers' Party claimed responsibility on Thursday for bombing the oil pipeline that carries Iraqi oil through Turkish soil to the Ceyhan port.

“Last night, the People's Protection Force carried out some activities to strike the Turkish interests in Idli , Sirnak province [southeast of Turkey],” said Bahtyar Dogan, an official for the People’s Protection Force, the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) military wing.

“The activities included the bombing of the pipeline between Kirkuk and Ceyhan port that passes through the area.”

He added that the goal behind bombing the pipeline was to “harm the Turkish interests and the Turkish army, not to harm another country because the operation was on Turkish soil, thus harming Turkey only”.

Turkish media sources said last night three explosions near the pipeline caused a great fire and damage to the pipeline.

The explosion interrupted the transfer of Iraqi oil through the pipeline.

However, the Iraqi Oil Ministry reassured today that oil export has resumed after the fire was controlled by the Turkish authorities.

By Dilshad Saifadin

RY/SS/AKnews