Kurdistan Oil & Gas Development

[Anthea]

Reuters

Iraqi Kurdistan sends letter to U.S. court over oil cargo

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Wednesday it had sent a letter to a U.S. court in Texas over a seized cargo of Kurdish crude oil to counter claims from Iraq's central government in Baghdad which maintains the oil was illegally exported.

In the letter, the KRG asserts that Baghdad has failed to fulfil its obligations in Kurdistan, boosting the region's need to export oil as it contends with the influx of more than one million refugees in recent months due to violence sparked by Islamic State insurgents.

"The federal government cannot win, because our crude is legally produced, shipped, exported, and sold in accordance with the rights of the Kurdistan Region as set forth in the Iraqi constitution," KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said in a statement on the KRG's web site.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; editing by Jason Neely)

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/3 ... 0P20140730

[Anthea]

PUK media

Texas court advised of KRG rights and massive counterclaims against federal government



The KRG Minister of Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami, commented today on the Iraqi federal government’s petition to a US court to seize crude oil produced in the Kurdistan Region.

“The KRG’s lawyers sent a letter to a court in Texas to explain the misrepresentations of the Iraqi federal government. The Iraqi federal government has petitioned a Texas court for an order to seize crude oil legally produced, exported, and sold by the KRG in accordance with the Iraqi constitution and law. The letter indicates the possibility of massive counterclaims against the federal government,” said Minister Hawrami.

“The federal government of Iraq is trying to achieve in foreign courts and in the Iraqi supreme court what is denied to the federal government by the Iraqi constitution. The federal government cannot win, because our crude is legally produced, shipped, exported, and sold in accordance with the rights of the Kurdistan Region as set forth in the Iraqi constitution,” continued Minister Hawrami. “Our claims for unpaid compensation, which must be paid as provided in the Iraqi constitution and the law, will also be before any foreign court in which the federal government is seeking to attack us,” Minister Hawrami continued.

KRG.org

http://www.pukmedia.com/EN/EN_Direje.aspx?Jimare=21009

[Anthea]

Oil and Gas Technology

Oil Search completes wireline logging at Taza 2 in Kurdistan

Oil Search has announced that the Taza 2 well is at a total depth of 4,200 metres in a 6-1/8” hole and wireline logging operation have been completed

During the week, wireline logging operations were completed and a number of sidewall cores were recovered.

Mud losses have been encountered while preparing to widen the hole, in order to run a 5” liner.

The forward plan is to stabilise the well, enlarge the hole and install the liner prior to commencing the comprehensive testing programme as planned.

Taza 2 is located 10 kilometres north-west of Taza 1 and is designed to appraise the hydrocarbon-bearing intervals discovered by Taza 1 (Jeribe/Dhiban and Euphrates/Kirkuk Formations), as well as explore deeper Tertiary and Cretaceous targets including the Shiranish Formation.

The participants in Taza 2 are Oil Search with 60 per cent holdings, Total E&P Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Taza) B.V. with 20 per cent, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) with 20 per cent.

http://www.oilandgastechnology.net/upst ... -kurdistan

[Anthea]

Reuters

Kurdish oil cargo unloaded at sea, destination a mystery

Part of a Kurdish oil cargo has been offloaded from a Greek-managed tanker into another tanker in the South China Sea, but mystery surrounds the identity of the buyer and where the two tankers are headed.

The United Emblem, which is carrying more than 1 million barrels of oil, is one of three tankers loaded with oil from the autonomous Kurdish region, which is trying to sell oil independently.

Iraqi Kurdistan is locked in a bitter legal and diplomatic struggle with Baghdad over international oil sales.

A U.S. judge on Tuesday refused a request by Baghdad, citing a lack of jurisdiction, to seize 1 million barrels of oil aboard the United Kalavrvta tanker, which has been anchored off the port of Galveston since the weekend.

The Kurdistan Regional Government filed a letter with the Texas court arguing its sales are allowed under the Iraqi constitution.

Another tanker carrying Kurdish oil, the United Leadership, has been anchored off Morocco for almost two months.

All three tankers are managed by Marine Management Services M.C., a Piraeus-based shipping company.

A senior executive at Marine Management Services confirmed the ship-to-ship transfer involving the United Emblem took place in a "legitimate operation".

The ship is "fixed to a legitimate charterer and performing legitimate operations," said Kostas Georgopoulos, the chartering manager at Marine Management Services.

"The ship is still in international waters," he added.

Georgopoulos declined to name the charterer or the details of the oil transfer but was aware the 161,724 dwt (deadweight tonne) ship was carrying oil from Iraqi Kurdistan.

Around half of the ship's cargo could have been offloaded, according to Reuters AIS ship tracking data.

Data on July 28 showing the ship was anchored with a 100 percent draft indicated the tanker was fully loaded. The ship's draft was 74 percent of the maximum when the information was updated on Thursday, compared with around 60 percent if the tanker was empty.

The ship is anchored in the South China Sea about 20 km off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia and about 50 km north-east of Singapore, Reuters data showed.

Georgopoulos did not know where the ship was headed next, saying the charterers were controlling the vessel.

"It's not us controlling the tanker. We are expecting the issuing of orders," Georgopoulos said.

The captain of the ship said when reached by telephone: "You can't speak to me. Please don't call again. Whatever information you need get it from my owners. Thank you very much. Bye. Bye."

The London based insurer of the ship, the London P&I Club, declined to comment specifically on the vessel or its cargo, although director Steve Roberts, said: "We have had some contact" with Marine Management Services.

The United Emblem loaded the oil cargo at Ceyhan in Turkey in mid-June, according to Reuters data, although exports have now stopped because storage at the port is at capacity forcing the Kurdistan Regional Government to shut-off its pipeline.

The United States has publicly opposed direct oil sales, fearing they could contribute to the break-up of Iraq, and instead believes Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government should reach an agreement on how the proceeds from oil sales should be split.

(Editing Ed Davies)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/ ... 9720140731

[Anthea]

The American Spectator

Let’s Buy That Kurdish Oil

There’s a situation going on down in Texas right now that deserves everyone’s attention, even though it hasn’t received much notice in the press.

The Kurds are a gritty minority in the Middle East, surviving in a barren swathe of land across northern Iraq and eastern Turkey. They are Muslims but not too fanatical about their religion. They don’t practice much polygamy — the driving force in Muslim aggression — and only want to govern themselves. You won’t find any Kurdish terrorists hijacking planes or blowing themselves up on crowded subways around the world.

As a minority in both Iraq and Turkey, however, they have been subject to endless persecution. Saddam Hussein tried to exterminate them and the Turks have long harassed them for their desires for autonomy.

They were the big winners in the Iraq Invasion, however. Freed from the yoke of Saddam Hussein, they quickly established their own autonomous region, set up their own government, and have proved more than capable of governing themselves. They have a military force that is second to none. When ISIS burst out of Syria into northern Iraq, they quickly gave up the idea of confronting the Kurds and decided to go after Baghdad’s paper army instead. The Iraqi forces melted away while the Kurds have actually taken the opportunity to expand their holdings by seizing the oil city of Kirkuk. Claiming Iraq’s northern oil fields, they now have plenty of oil to sell.

But where to sell it, that has been the problem. The Shiite-dominated Baghdad government has demanded that the Kurds sell their oil through them, claiming all the royalties and leaving the Kurds only a small stipend in the process. But the Kurds refused and resourcefully built their own pipeline west through Turkey to the port of Ceyhan. The work was completed in May and the Kurds recently loaded their first tanker with $100 million of oil.

That’s when the trouble began. Because of a set of prohibitions and sanctions set up by our State Department, most of the oil-importing countries of the world have refused to buy the Kurdish cargo. The idea is we’re supposed to be propping up the Maliki government in its effort to make Iraq a unified country. But Baghdad itself isn’t doing a very good job, kicking the Sunnis out of the administration, leaving itself open to the Sunni-dominated ISIS invasion, and turning to Iran when it needs help. Once again the resourceful Kurds are a persecuted minority being exploited for their ambitious efforts.

So the Kurdish tanker became a Flying Dutchman, circling the globe in search of a friendly port to buy its oil. For a while it looked as if Italy might take it but the State Department prevented that. And so this week the Flying Dutchman ended up anchored off the Port of Galveston with the possibility that Texas’s thriving, bustling, free-enterprise-loving economy might cycle it into its ample refinery network.

But no, international politics has intervened once again. Iraq has sued, calling the oil “stolen” and Texas Judge Nancy Johnson agreed, not only blockading the sale of the cargo but demanding that it be seized as stolen property.

Well, that didn’t last long. Another ruling has determined that the tanker is anchored outside U.S. territorial limits and thus beyond the court’s jurisdiction. Still, in a world thirsting for oil, the Kurds remain unable to unload their precious cargo and give their fragile economy the boost it needs to survive.

Why is it we always end up supporting these puppet regimes? From the Kuomintang to South Vietnam to Iraq we always seem to end up backing some dispirited paper army while the opposition is highly motivated and full of purpose. (True, it may be W. B Yeats’ “the worst are full of passionate intensity,” but it is intensity.)

Before the Iraq Invasion, there was a huge vogue about the Kurds among the American left. They were an abused minority and worthy of their attention. (Perhaps awarded “refugee” status so they can come to America and vote Democratic?) But once George Bush liberated the Kurds, the left lost interest. (“We didn’t mean THAT kind of liberation!”) The Kurds no longer have that damsel-in-distress appeal.

Yet now that the Kurds have proved they are capable of organizing and supporting themselves, Republicans have shown no interest in them. What are we waiting for? Why doesn’t someone in Congress pick up the cause, pass an emergency measure saying we can buy that Kurdish oil and give a proud and independent people a fighting chance?

http://spectator.org/articles/60139/let ... urdish-oil

[Anthea]

Reuters

Axeon says it bought Kurdish crude weeks before Iraq law suit

An asphalt maker in New Jersey became the second U.S. company to publicly confirm buying Kurdish crude oil, saying on Friday it had imported a cargo just weeks before an Iraqi lawsuit over a separate $100 million shipment offshore Texas.

In response to questions from Reuters, Axeon Specialty Products said it received the Kurdish Shaikan crude cargo in June at its Paulsboro refinery.

The company did not say whether it is the buyer of another cargo carrying Kurdish crude from Turkey on the 300,000-barrel Minerva Joy tanker now headed for New Jersey, according to Reuters sources and ship data.

Although Baghdad objects to any independent financial deals with Kurdistan's Regional Government, small shipments of oil such as the one imported by Axeon have spread all over the global market.

But even those cargoes are coming under greater scrutiny after Iraq won a U.S. court order this week to seize a one-million-barrel shipment that arrived in the Gulf of Mexico only a week ago in a dispute that has spooked buyers.

On Thursday, after a Reuters report identified it as having imported Kurdish crude, LyondellBasell confirmed it recently bought "modest quantities" of "Iraqi crudes" but that it would halt further purchases because of the dispute.

For its part, Axeon did not say if it would buy any more cargoes of Kurdish crude, but acknowledged it was "the importer of record for the June shipment," according to a company official. "We purchased this cargo on a delivered Paulsboro, New Jersey, basis from a reputable supplier."

The Minerva Joy tanker is slated to deliver on August 11 after leaving a Turkish port used to export crude trucked in by the Kurds, according to shipping data available via ThomsonReuters Eikon.

RISKY BUSINESS

So far, Iraq has focused its crackdown mainly on large tankers departing Ceyan, Turkey, where a pipeline from Kurdistan ends. Vessels loaded at Dortyol with trucked in oil can be tougher to follow and have generally been easily sold.

Though purchases aren't banned, Washington has told U.S. companies that buying Kurdish crude can be risky.

Iraq's central government has stepped up efforts to block independent oil sales by Kurdistan's Regional Government, which sees the revenues as central to securing greater autonomy from Baghdad.

After confirming it bought two cargoes in May, Lyondell did not say if it had agreed to buy the one-million-barrel cargo currently on the tanker United Kalavrvta off the coast of Texas.

That cargo, now idle for several days, is at the center of a legal dispute between Iraq and Kurdistan over who owns it.

Despite objections from Baghdad and occasional disquiet in Washington, a number of major U.S. companies, including ExxonMobil Corp, Chevron Corp, Marathon Oil Corp and Hess Corp, are operating in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Kurdish crudes such as Shaikan, Taq Taq and Tawke are also being sold to the European market, including to Russian firm Rosneft's Ruhr Oel refineries in Germany.

Two tankers, the Nord Farer and the Angelica AN, are scheduled to deliver Kurdish crudes in August to buyers in France and Russia, according to Reuters tracking data.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/ ... BX20140804

[Anthea]

Gazprom Neft begins exploratory drilling in Kurdistan

Gazprom Neft has begun drilling an exploration well at the Shakal block in Kurdistan (Iraq) and is soon to commence drilling on a second exploration well. The project will study two oil reservoirs in the Shakal block including flow testing. Well testing will be completed by late 2014 / early 2015.

Grey Wolf (Canada) has been appointed as contractor for the project based on the company's extensive experience in the region. The wells will have a depth of up to 3.5km. Earlier, 2D seismic surveys have been conducted covering an area of more than 1,000 linear kilometres at the Shakal block, where an exploration well has also been drilled. 3D seismic surveys covering 290 square kilometres have also been conducted since Gazprom Neft joined the project.

Gazprom Neft is involved in three projects in Iraqi Kurdistan. In addition to its operations on the Shakal block, the company is conducting geological surveys of the Halabja block where it is planning 2D seismic surveys covering 1,000 linear kilometres in 2014, and drilling the block's first exploration well in 2015-2016. Gazprom Neft is also involved in the development of the Garmian block where the deposit is currently undergoing further exploration and preparation for full scale development. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is currently considering the initial field development plan.

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Gazprom_Neft_ ... 03994.aspx

[Anthea]

Oil prices - When ISIS takes Baghdad

Converging Contexts and Paradigms

As of today it is at least theoretically possible to scenarize a world oil shock at least equal to the so-called 'Arab oil embargo' of 1973-74 in terms of oil export supply cuts from several key regions and producer states - Russia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and possibly the GCC Arab Gulf exporters. The differences then-and-now are however massive, starting with the twin realities underlying the potential for a coalescing or convergent Oil Shock of 2014. The shock would only be in part politically-motivated and would not unwind and rapidly return to normal afterwards.

The biggest convergent factor making a 2014 shock possible is the role of conflict, civil war and the potential extension of civil wars into full-blown international war. In that situation we get 'force majeure' and oil supplies will be restored 'sine die' or when God chooses! This is not the same as a political embargo on oil supplies which can be restored by the stroke of a pen or snap of the fingers.

The ISIS Threat

As of August 3 newswires report, recent fighting in north and central Iraq results in ISIS fighters taking full control of Iraq's biggest dam at Haditha unopposed by Kurdish fighters who have made a strategic retreat to Kurd territory after losing three towns, and an oilfield to ISIS fighters. The Haditha Dam serving Baghdad, like a smaller dam serving Mosul which fell to ISIS fighters in June, was as early as 2007 identified by the US Special Inspectorate General for Iraq Reconstruction, a Pentagon watchdog, as a critical installation for enemy insurgent attack. This Agency highlighted structural problems at the two earthfill dams, needing constant grouting and backfill to prevent collapse, and warned of the catastrophic possibilities if either of them fell to insurgents - then called Al Qaeda in Iraq. Both of these dams are now in the hands of ISIS.

Due to their construction method and need for constant upkeep, both dams are relatively easy to rupture using only low amounts of well-placed explosives. The Agency warned that total rupture of the Haditha Dam could cause a 65-foot-high tidal wave in Baghdad City.

ISIS now has two powerful bargaining chips in Iraq. Its frankly apocalyptic general theory of forcing its Grand Caliphate into being would be served by the total destruction of Baghdad if the city and el-Maliki's government do not submit. In no way avoiding the Apocalypse but welcoming it, the effects on Iraq's oil production and oil exports can be imagined. Comparable insurgency, civil riot and rebellion and destruction of government is under way in both Syria and Libya. The extreme fundamentalist Sunni ISIS movement makes no secret of 'the prize' being the overthrow of albeit-Sunni ruling families, called 'impious and heretical' in the GCC countries.

The Ukraine Threat

Conventional or mainstream media has studiously avoided the 'oil threat' of Russian counter-sanctions while the 'gas threat' has been given large coverage. In fact EU28 countries source about the same amount of their oil (about 30% - 35%) as gas from Russia. Either 'tap' can be turned off.

Sanctions to date are in a complex state of evolution and denial, leaving analysts with no clear track to follow but Russia's use of counter-sanctions including oil are more probable than only possible. One track that is already clear is that western oil company investment and holdings in Russia's oil-gas sector will tend to be whittled back in an escalation process. Russia has already launched a determined program to find oil buyers in China and India, not using US dollars as settlement currecy.

The Ukraine threat is however at least as serious as the ISIS threat in the Arabian peninsula and MENA region due to military action - attributed by western media and political leaders as due to the Russian state in general and Vladimir Putin in particular- being under way and hard to stop. In the ISIS case there is no state which can be directly blamed for the process of civil strife, riot and rebellion and the collapse of government.

Escalation in the Ukraine theater or conflict zone is therefore a constant menace. Collateral damage to oil supplies, as noted already, are probable rather than possible.

Feast to Famine

Most certainly intensifying the shock-prone context for oil prices, and dramatizing them, current global oil supply-demand metrics point to major oversupply. When or if that context suddenly overturns to sharp undersupply, we can only expect 'heroic daily trading'. Prices will seesaw in extreme fashion. The $4-a-day price change paradigm can be invoked.

As we know and simple energy economics proves this, oil cannot reach and then hold $150 a barrel nor $35 a barrel, but between the two extremes margin plays will run riot. The market will run into uber-opaque territory and may stay there longer than some experts might predict. Taking objective criteria and metrics, although these will be sidelined in the crisis, only Saudi Arabia has probable, or at least possible market-credible spare production capacity. The 'potential spare' capacity that is represented by el-Maliki's Iraq with its claims of constant and massive yearlyoil production hikes, will be made virtual and 'sine die'.

Added to the sure and certain decline of Libyan net export supply, declining Iraqi supply, and the possible use of Russian cuts to oil supply - when or if western sanctions become too arrogant and too insistent - we have a context that can turn on its head any day. You can expect big changes.

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Oil_prices_Wh ... 76c7b.aspx

[Anthea]

PUK media

KRG ASKS TEXAS COURT TO LIFT ORDER AGAINST OIL CARGO

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has today filed a motion in a court in Texas to lift an order against a cargo of crude oil legally produced, exported, and sold by the KRG in accordance with the Iraqi constitution and law.

The Iraqi federal government complaint, on which the order was based, contains a number of false and irrelevant allegations against the KRG. The KRG's motion, including its Appendix, provides a response to those allegations, and includes a brief overview of the Iraqi constitutional provisions against which the Iraqi federal government has set itself.

KRG.org/PUKmedia

[Anthea]

UPI

Kurds counter claims over oil off Texas coast

Oil should enter U.S. jurisdiction "in the near future."

ERBIL, Iraq, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The Kurdish government in Iraq said Tuesday it filed a motion in a Texas court to lift restrictions on a cargo of its oil parked off the coast of Galveston.

The semiautonomous Kurdish government said it was responding to a July filing in the Texas court system from the federal government in Baghdad challenging an imminent crude oil sale in the United States

"The Kurdistan Regional Government has today filed a motion in a court in Texas to lift an order against a cargo of crude oil legally produced, exported, and sold by the KRG in accordance with the Iraqi constitution and law," it said.

Both sides make competing claims on the legality of sales of Kurdish crude oil. The United States has stood by a policy of emphasizing oil sales must go through the federal government, but said there is no outright ban on Kurdish crude oil sales.

The 33-page complaint in the Southern District of Texas from the Kurdish government says the United Kalavryta is parked out of U.S. jurisdiction with 1.03 million barrels of crude oil.

The cargo has not yet been brought into U.S. territory, "but the KRG expects that it will enter the territorial jurisdiction of the Southern District of Texas in the near future."

A Texas judge had ordered U.S. Marshals to seize the oil, though it's in international waters and out of the reach of the U.S. government.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy ... t=mps&or=4

[Anthea]

Genel Energy announces its unaudited results for the six months to 30 June 2014

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 2014.

Highlights

Genel's operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) remain safe and secure
Significant volume growth in H1 2014, average net working interest production of 63,000 boepd represents c.50% uplift on H1 2013
Progress towards sustainable KRI pipeline exports - first cargo lifted from Ceyhan in May and proceeds from first sale received in a Turkish bank account controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
First gas from Summail development delivered to Dohuk Power Station in May
H1 2014 revenues of $192 million, up 20% on H1 2013, excludes $40 million of export revenue owed but not recognised
H1 2014 EBITDAX of $138 million, up 6% on H1 2013 principally as a result of higher revenue
Cash balances at end H1 2014 of $974 million following high-yield bond issue; net cash of $483 million at period end

Exploration update

Material Dilolo prospect offshore Angola spudded in June, drilling operations scheduled to take up to 5 months to complete
Nour prospect on Sidi Moussa licence offshore Morocco spudded in late July and is expected to take two to three months to complete

Outlook

2014 production (60-70,000 boepd), revenue ($500-600 million) and capex guidance ($550-600 million) unchanged
Good progress negotiating a gas sales offtake agreement (GSOA) for Miran and Bina Bawi; expected to conclude by year-end 2014

Commenting today Tony Hayward, chief executive, said:

"Operational momentum in the KRI is increasing, with the opening of the KRI-Turkey pipeline resulting in a significant rise in our production. Whilst we continue to monitor the situation closely, our operations in Kurdistan have been unaffected by events elsewhere in Iraq. The KRG has successfully sold oil exported through Ceyhan at international prices, and we expect our production to increase further in the second half of the year as sales become regular and payments predictable.

The signing of the gas sales offtake agreement for Miran and Bina Bawi will be transformational for our gas business, and will provide a clear path to monetisation of this world-class resource. With the GSOA expected to be signed before the end of the year, and drilling underway on high-impact prospects offshore Angola and Morocco, the Company is set to make material progress in the second half of 2014."

For Results summary follow link:

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Genel_Energy_ ... da799.aspx

[Anthea]

OIL MAJORS EVACUATE

Reuters photographs on Thursday showed the insurgents had raised their black flag over a checkpoint just 45 km (28 miles) from Arbil, a city of 1.5 million which became an oil boomtown when the rest of Iraq was often too dangerous for foreign staff.

U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron evacuated expatriate staff from Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday. Smaller oil companies also evacuated staff and cut back operations, and several saw their shares fall sharply on Thursday and Friday.

Full Article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/ ... 8J20140808

[Anthea]

Iraqi Kurdistan-focused oil shares hit by Islamic State advance

Gulf News

Arbil: Shares of energy companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan plunged on Thursday and two US companies evacuated some staff as Islamic

State of Syria and Levant (Isil) militants advanced within 45 kilometers of Arbil, a key hub for oil producers.

Companies that produce oil in the semi-autonomous region, including Oslo-listed DNO ASA, as well as London-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd and Genel Energy Plc saw double-digit declines in their share prices as the radical Sunni militants seized 15 towns.

While the companies said their oil fields continued to operate, there are growing concerns about the security risks faced by firms active in Iraqi Kurdistan, seen as a beacon of relative stability in the region.

“Investors are now taking into account the risk,” ABG Sundal Collier analyst Oeyvind Hagen said, adding it remained difficult to judge how far into the Kurdish region the Islamists could penetrate.

Shares in DNO fell as much as 24 per cent and Gulf Keystone Petroleum was down 13 percent at their lowest point, before paring losses. Genel shares were down over 10 percent.

Gulf Keystone said it had increased security at its flagship Shaikan field, Iraqi Kurdistan’s largest, but added that production and trucking operations were continuing safely.

DNO operates the Tawke field, in which Genel is also a partner, which produces around 120,000 barrels of oil per day.

Other Kurdistan oil producers including London-listed Afren PLC and Toronto-listed Oryx Petroleum Corporation Ltd , which operates the fields closest to the militants advance, declined to comment. Shares of Oryx were down as much as 11 percent.

Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil said on Thursday they were evacuating staff from Kurdistan as the militants advanced.

The companies have been drilling and testing new wells in the region. Exxon said little about its Kurdistan holdings at an analysts meeting earlier this year. As recently as last week, Chevron executives told investors they were “very encouraged” by initial Kurdistan well results.

Marathon Oil Corp, a US oil and gas company that is also drilling in Kurdistan said in a statement that all of its employees are currently accounted for but evacuation is under consideration if the security situation worsens.

Energy companies have flocked to Iraqi Kurdistan in recent years, hoping to access what is believed to be one of the world’s last huge conventional onshore oil deposits.

The regional capital Arbil houses many western oil workers and executives, and has seen an investment boom despite tensions with Baghdad over the control of oil sales and revenues.

Most worrying for investors this week has been the pullback of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Peshmerga soldiers.

Facing militants freshly armed with US-made heavy weapons seized from the Iraqi army, the Peshmergas have given up several towns since Sunday.

Witnesses on Thursday said the militants had seized the town of Makhmur, around 40 km from the regional capital Arbil, but Kurdish officials told local media their forces remained in control there and television channels broadcast footage of Peshmerga fighters driving around the town.

The militant group said in a statement on its Twitter account that its fighters had seized 15 towns, the strategic Mosul dam on the Tigris River and a military base.

DNO, which describes its prospects in Iraqi Kurdistan as ‘the jewel in the crown’ on its website, was the first international energy company to enter the Iraqi Kurdistan region in 2004.

Production from the region accounted for 55 percent of its revenue last year.

http://gulfnews.com/business/oil-gas/ir ... s+RSS+feed

[Anthea]

Today's Zaman

Kurdish oil pipeline via Turkey runs normally despite militant advance

The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) oil pipeline via Turkey is operating normally and pumping 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil despite an advance by Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq, sources told Reuters on Friday.

"The crude flow is uninterrupted, pumping around 120,000 bpd," one industry source said. "Some fields such as Taq Taq are actually producing their highest."

The Sunni militants extended their gains on Thursday, seizing more towns and strengthening their presence near the Kurdish region in an offensive that has alarmed Baghdad and regional powers.

Until this week, most of Kurdistan had been protected from militants by its own armed forces, called the peshmerga. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fleeing the Islamists, including Christians and Yazidis, have taken refuge in the Kurdish area.

The KRG's independent oil pipeline came online last December and connects with the Baghdad-controlled federal Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline on the Turkish side of the border, carrying Kurdish crude to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

The federal Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline carrying Kirkuk oil to Ceyhan has been down after consecutive attacks.

KRG shipped its first independent oil exports via Ceyhan to world markets in May, but has met strong objections from Baghdad and efforts to block its shipments as the central government sees itself as the sole authority on Iraqi oil.

The latest tanker carrying 260,000 barrels of Kurdish oil left Ceyhan port on Sunday.

Reuters photographs showed what appeared to be Islamic State fighters controlling a checkpoint at the border area of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, little over 30 minutes' drive from Arbil, a city of 1.5 million that is headquarters of the Kurdish regional government and many businesses.

The fighters had raised the movement's black flag over the guard post. However, a Kurdish security official denied that the militants were in control of the Khazer checkpoint. The regional government said its forces were advancing and would "defeat the terrorists", urging people to stay calm.

http://www.todayszaman.com/world_kurdis ... 54963.html

[Anthea]

World Bulletin

Afren suspends output at Kurdish Barda Rash oilfield

Afren's other operations in Iraqi Kurdistan continued to function normally but the company said it was closely monitoring events on the ground.

World Bulletin/News Desk

Oil company Afren has suspended output at its Barda Rash oilfield in Iraqi Kurdistan, the first field to shut in the region as ISIL militants advance closer, weighing on shares of London-listed oil producers active there.

"Afren has taken the precautionary step to temporarily suspend operations at the Barda Rash field," the company said in a statement, adding it was withdrawing all non-essential staff from the field.

Shares in Afren opened 7 percent lower on Friday, while Gulf Keystone Petroleum was down 2.6 percent and Genel traded 5 percent lower at 0712 GMT.

Oslo-listed oil producer DNO defied the trend, gaining nearly 3 percent as its shares reacted positively to a U.S. pledge to defend the Kurdish capital Arbil.

"There is a concern that DNO and Genel may follow suit, but both have much more material operations in the country than Afren," said Sanjeev Bahl, analyst at Numis.

U.S. oil majors Chevron and Exxon Mobil said on Thursday they were evacuating some staff from Kurdistan.

Gulf Keystone said it had increased security at its flagship Shaikan field, Iraqi Kurdistan's largest, but added that production and trucking operations were continuing safely.

Barda Rash, which is 60 percent owned by Afren, was producing a gross average of 785 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in the first quarter, making it a relatively small field.

Afren's other operations in Kurdistan continued to function normally but the company said it was closely monitoring events on the ground.

Barda Rash is Afren's only producing oil asset in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The oil explorer said the suspension of production at Barda Rash was not expected to have a significant impact on the company's cashflow.

On Thursday, some oil companies active in Iraqi Kurdistan saw double-digit share price declines as investors weighed the risk of possible production losses.

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/14213 ... h-oilfield