Kurdistan payments and new oil sales agreements

Kurdistan producers receive payment for October sales
Gulf Keystone signs new oil sales agreement with the KRG

DNO has reported a payment of USD54 million for Tawke production from the Kurdistan Regional Government. This is in respect of October oil deliveries. The payment will be shared between the licence partners WHO 75% and Genel 25%. Although there is a lag in payments between production and receipt, this is viewed as normal with October sales invoiced in November and approval by the Government in December with payment the following month. The continued stream of payments demonstrates the importance of oil exports to Kurdistan, especially following the independence referendum last year which threw doubt on the region's ability to carry on managing its finances.

In December, DNO reported production from its two field on the Tawke PSC averaged 110mbopd. Production is expected to climb from these levels as operations ramp up at the Peshkabir field. With higher oil prices and continued payment, DNO could begin to undertake infill drilling on the PSC later this year.

Last week, Gulf Keystone also announced that it had agreed a new PSC-linked oil sales agreement with the Government for its Shaikan crude, reinforcing continued progress in the region around oil company activities. Under the agreement, the KRG agreed to buy crude at Brent less USD22/bbl reflecting a quality discount and transportation costs. Kurdistan crude has historically been marketed following a SOMO (Federal Iraq’s State Organisation for marketing of Oil) formula which provides for a discount of c.USD0.4/bbl of API quality. With Shaikan crude at 18˚ (vs. Brent 38˚) suggesting a USD8/bbl discount plus pipeline export costs to Ceyhan estimated at USD4/bbl, the USD22/bbl discount agreed with the KRG seems to be extremely high. This is likely due to additional discounts on Kurdistan originating crude, where the international buyer community could be thin, resulting from political sensitivities of taking on crude from the disputed region.