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A BID FOR INDEPENDENCE
R
eports from the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG) claim that the
oil pipeline running from Iraqi-
Kurdistan via Turkey is operating
normally, despite growing unrest in Northern
Iraq and Syria.
The pipeline, which came online last
December, is KRG’s attempt to export oil
independently of Iraq. Sources say that
the pipeline is pumping 120 000 bpd of
crude, connecting to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan
pipeline on the Turkish side of the
border. This crude is transported to the
port at Ceyhan and exported via tanker.
According to Julian
Metherell, CFO at Genel
Energy Plc, the London-
based exploration
company active in
Kurdistan, some five
cargoes have been
loaded in Ceyhan.
Metherell confirms that,
of these, one tanker has
gone to Singapore, one
to Israel and a third is
docked off the coast of
the US, where it is the
subject of a legal
dispute.
You might have seen news reports of
this fateful tanker, the United Kalavyrta,
moored off the coast of Texas, loaded
with Kurdish crude oil and unable to
dock. Washington has opposed the direct
sale of oil from the autonomous Kurdish
region, wary of creating any further
divisions within Iraq. At the time of
writing, the tanker has been stranded off
the coast of Galveston for two weeks,
unable to continue its journey to port.
Iraq asserts that the cargo is stolen and,
as such, appealed to US magistrates for
assistance in recouping the load. A
federal magistrate in Houston has
ordered US marshals to seize any oil that
is offloaded onto smaller vessels for
passage to shore. The stalemate
continues.
Back in Iraqi-Kurdistan, Genel reports
that production remains safe and secure,
with record volumes being pumped.
Genel, whose CEO is ex-BP Plc chief Tony
Hayward, expects to sign a gas deal with
Turkey this year. The agreement would
cover the supply of 10 billion m
3
/yr of
gas to Turkey by 2017. Genel is confident
about a huge rise in piped oil exports,
despite the difficulties it faces regionally:
the Isis (IS) insurgents in Iraq have
claimed seven oilfields and two refineries
over the last few months. Yet, despite
growing security risks, the companies
active in the field say their oilfields
continue to operate.
Mr Hayward is keen to stress that all
is calm around key oilfields in the Kurdish
region of Iraq, which has historically been
a beacon of relative stability in the
region.
Kurdistan has long harboured
aspirations of exiting
Iraq and becoming an
independent state and,
with this, generating its
own oil revenues.
Under the Iraqi
constitution, Kurdistan
receives a 17.5% share
in Iraq’s oil revenues,
but the KRG insists that
Baghdad underpays.
Kurdistan has exported
oil on its own initiative
since 2009, in deals
with ExxonMobil,
Chevron and Gazprom.
Speaking to
The Guardian
newspaper
in July, Sardar Aziz, a senior adviser to the
cross-party energy committee of
Kurdistan’s parliament, said that he
wanted a sovereign Kurdistan to use its
oil wealth wisely – like Norway does.
1
New oil and gas discoveries in the
region of Kurdistan have proved to be
very encouraging: there are 57 oil and gas
fields, with estimated proven reserves of
45 million bbls of oil and
100 - 200 trillion ft
3
of natural gas. The
KRG Ministry of Natural Resources has
established a programme to increase
production capacity from 200 000 bpd
to 2 million bpd by the 2020. Some 40 oil
and gas companies are active in
Kurdistan, although at the time of writing,
Chevron Corp. and ExxonMobil are
reported to be evacuating staff from
Kurdistan territory, in the wake of
continued regional aggressions. Despite
optimistic reports, the future for the
Kurdistan oil and gas industry is tied to
the turmoil around it.
1.
/
kurdish-technocrats-discuss-kurdistan-oil-wealth
AT THE TIME OF
WRITING, THE
TANKER HAS
BEEN STRANDED
OFF THE COAST
OF GALVESTON
FOR TWO WEEKS
