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Foreign firms have reached "very good results" in
their exploration for oil deposits in Kurdistan
(Iraq) the border town of Zakho, said Mohammed
Zaibari, head of the northern oil distribution
company.
Zaibari, speaking in a local television interview,
did not name the foreign firms but said they were
exploring for oil in Kurdistan (northern Iraq)
under an agreement with the central government.
“The preliminary explorations have shown very good
results,” he said.
Zakho is a town in the Kurdish north bordering
Turkey.
Zaibari did not give the names of the foreign firms
involved in the exploration.
But said: “The explorations in Zakho provide
conclusive evidence that Iraqi crude reserves are is
immense indeed.”
Proven Iraqi reserves are estimated at 14 billion
barrels, the world’s second largest after those of
Saudi Arabia.
Zaibari is in charge of fuel distribution in the
three Kurdish provinces of Dahouk, Sulaimaniyah and
Erbil as well as Kurdish city of Kirkuk and Nineveh
(Mosul).
He claimed that the five provinces currently suffer
from no fuel shortages.
He said his company’s policy of rationing the
distribution particularly of gasoline has slashed
what he called "waste" in the three Kurdish
provinces by 40%.
Despite its massive oil wealth, Iraq currently
imports fuel from Turkey and Zaibari said fuel bills
due to Turkey, and still unpaid by the government,
were worth up to $1 billion.
www.azzaman.com
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