All’s well in western Kurdistan
 |
| DNO export payments |
Kurdistan operators received payment for January crude exports in April. The increasing oil price should feed through into the payments over the next few months as operators get paid for sales made in Q1 2018.
However just as the improving oil price is about to kick in, it appears that Kurdistan is looking to reap some of the benefits back from the operators. In April 2018, DNO disclosed that the discount to Brent on its Tawke crude had increased from USD12/bbl to USD13.15/bbl. This has been dressed up as an increase in the transportation tariff and quality discount, although this may mask the underlying reason for the increase driven by desire of the KRG to extract more money.
Despite increasing record of payments, Kurdistan remains an uncertainty for oil & gas companies with upcoming elections in Federal Iraq and ruling on the legality of crude exports from the region. Surprises of sudden increases in export tariffs do not help its case either.
We also question the ability of Kurdistan to maintain payments to operators given its accumulated debts, particularly to civil servants and Peshmerga, as well as the loss of export revenue from the disputed Kirkuk fields.
Related links:
0 comments:
Post a Comment