Monday, January 31, 2011
Oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan won't resume February 1st
BAGHDAD, Oil exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region are not expected to resume on Feb. 1 as previously agreed with the central government in Baghdad, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Kurdish exports from two fields -- Taq Taq and Tawke -- flowed briefly in 2009 but were halted when the Iraqi government refused to pay the oil companies working the fields, including Norway's DNO (DNO.OL), Turkey's Genel Enerji and China's Sinopec (600028.SS).
Earlier this month, Iraq said oil exports from the northern Kurdish region would resume on Feb. 1, and the Oil Ministry in Baghdad had agreed with its Kurdish counterpart to pay the exploration costs and expenses of the companies but not their profits.
But on Monday, at least three sources close to the matter said oil exports were not expected to start on Feb 1.
Two of the sources said there was still a lack of clarity surrounding the agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"We are getting ready. No it (exports) will not be tomorrow," one source said on a condition of anonymity.
Another source, who also declined to be identified, said he expected oil exports to resume next week.
An official at the Iraqi state-run North Oil Co., responsible for handling oil exports from northern Iraq through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, said the company had not received any notifications on Monday from the Kurdish authorities regarding the resumption of exports.
"We have agreed with them that we need to be informed a day in advance," the official said.
"I can tell you there will not be exports from the Kurdish side on Tuesday, nor even on Wednesday."
Around 40 companies have invested in Kurdistan, but revenues have been curtailed by their inability to sell oil for export, because Baghdad has deemed the contracts they signed unconstitutional.
If oil exports resume from the Kurdish region, flows would be about 100,000 barrels per day, Kurdish and Iraqi oil officials had said.
DNO stands ready to export around 50,000 bpd if a deal is concluded, while production capacity from the Taq Taq field is around 60,000 bpd.
Iraq ships the bulk of its oil via its southern terminals near the city of Basra. Exports from the south averaged 1.8 million bpd from Jan. 1 to Jan. 24. [ID:nLDE70O1A0]
Oil from the Kirkuk fields in Iraq's northern region provide another 400,000 bpd or so in exports delivered via the pipeline to Ceyhan, a port in Turkey.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/iraq-oil-kurdistan-idINLDE70U1QI20110131
