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Shell strikes deal to extract Kurdistan and Iraq
gas
14.4.2007
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TPAO,
the Turkish state oil company, will work with the
Anglo-Dutch group to extract gas from the
Kurdistan region
April 14, 2007
Shell is poised to become the first oil major to
step back into Iraq after reports that it had signed
a deal to extract natural gas in the Kurdistan
region in (northern Iraq).
A Turkish news agency claimed that the Anglo-Dutch
giant would work in partnership with TPAO, the
Turkish state oil company.
The alliance is also expected to cover the
construction of a gas export pipeline that would run
alongside an existing pipeline connecting the
Mediterranean port of Ceyhan and the massive
Kurdistani-Iraqi oil field in Kirkuk.
A spokesman for the Turkish Energy Ministry said:
"An agreement has been reached which has to be
ratified by the administration in Baghdad."
A Shell spokesman insisted that the company had not
yet signed the contract but acknowledged that the
company was in talks about entering Iraq.
He said: “Shell is exploring various opportunities
to monetise Iraq’s gas through exports to gas
markets around the world.
“We are also exploring ways to support the
development of the necessary gas infrastructure to
support Iraq’s domestic power generation.
“Discussions undertaken with the Iraqi authorities
or other third parties are regarded as
confidential.”
The move comes only weeks after Ashti Harwani, the
oil minister for the Kurdish region of Iraq,
revealed that he wanted to grant up to ten
exploration and production contracts in Kurdistan
this
year.
It followed the ratification of the long-awaited
Iraqi petroleum law.
The vastly underexplored region is thought to hold
between 12 billion to 45 billion barrels of oil and
100 trillion cubic feet of gas.
With a far better security situation than the rest
of Iraq, Kurdistan is regarded by Western companies
as the first way back into the war-torn country.
Shell and its peers are desperate to find new oil
and gas discoveries and boost production, as older
fields in areas such as the North Sea mature.
At present only five minnows, including Genel Enerji,
of Turkey, and DNO, of Norway, are exploring in
Kurdistan.
But Statoil and BG Group have expressed an interest
in joining the black gold rush.
Paul Mullarkey, the chief business developer of BG,
told The Times last month: “We are considering our
position, as we do with any region around the world.
But it’s far too early to say how the situation will
progress.”
timesonline co.uk
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