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Report: Kurdistan oil ripe for investment
13.3.2007
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March 13, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- Iraq's
Kurdistan region has the potential to rival Caspian
and North Sea oil and natural gas, analyst Wood
Mackenzie says.
Kurdistan is a semi-autonomous region in the north
of Iraq, relatively free from violence like the rest
of the country. Governed by the Kurdistan Regional
Government, it has also signed five production deals
with international companies, with more expected
this year.
"Speculative estimates for total reserves potential
of the region are between 12 billion and 45 billion
barrels of oil, and 100 (trillion cubic feet) of
gas, which would put Kurdistan on a par with
prolific producing regions such as the Caspian and
North Sea," said Iain Brown, manager of Middle East
Upstream Research for Edinburgh, Scotland-based Wood
Mackenzie. |
Kurdistan oil |
The region is well placed, with access to both
refineries and pipelines to ship crude to the rest
of the country, as well as neighboring Syria and
Turkey. But it faces two distinct challenges: Syria,
Turkey and Iran fear any further independence for
Iraq's Kurds would motivate their populations to
clamor for independence as well. And, although a
tentative deal has been reached on a federal
hydrocarbons law, the KRG and Baghdad still have to
agree on specifics for control over signing and
administering oil production deals, as well as
revenue sharing mechanisms.
Without the law, smaller, independent oil companies
may be the only ones willing to sign deals with the
KRG, and potentially hurting chances of signing
deals with Baghdad for work in the rest of the
country.
The Wood Mackenzie report highlights testing and
production at the Tawke and Taq Taq fields, proving
the region is ripe with oil and could spell a boon
for the region and those invested in it.
"Early entrants have shown that it is an area where
exploration activities can be successfully
concluded, and have trodden a path in which others
are certain to follow," Brown said.
UPI
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