The Kurdish Crush

The Kurdistan producers are in a tough spot brought about by COVID-19 and the collapse in oil prices. Earlier this year, the KRG said it would delay payments in respect of October 2019 to February 2020 deliveries as its cash to pay producers was stuck in a Lebanese bank account with the bank itself facing liquidity issues. The KRG had struck a deal to pay producers for the backlog later in 2020. Payments in respect sales from March 2020 were...

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Kurdistan steps up efforts to eliminate gas flaring

The Kurdistan Ministry of Natural Resources ("MNR") has asked the Shaikan field partners (Gulf Keystone and MOL) to re-submit a revised FDP for the field to address additional MNR requests on gas management. The next well planned on the field will now be used to assess the feasibility of gas reinjection into the Jurassic formation, rather than as an originally planned Jurassic production well. Whilst a key driver to be reservoir management and...

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Kurdistan E&Ps get paid for January sales

Genel has announced that the Tawke and Taq Taq partners have received payment from the KRG for January oil sales. The Tawke partners (DNO 75% and Genel 25%) have received USD56 million and will also share in a USD13 million overriding payment The Taq Taq partners partners received USD8 million this month The continuing payments by the KRG is constructive for sentiment and critical in bringing interest and investment back into the region. Many E&Ps have held off investing in the country with payments being a big concern. While the continuing...

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All’s well in western Kurdistan

The western part of Kurdistan appears to be holding up following the referendum last autumn. Although there is much to do to reconcile the fragile relationship between Federal Iraq and the Kurdistan region, things for now appear to have stabilised – however upcoming elections in both is limiting any meaningful progress with political candidates not willing to make any bold reconciliatory moves to avoid alienating voters. The operators in western...

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