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DNO arbitration 'Not part of Kurdistan
Government halt'
1.10.2009
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DNO International:3rd Party arbitration not part of
Kurdish suspension
October 1, 2009
OSLO,
Norway,— Troubled Norwegian
producer DNO International said today that ongoing
arbitration proceedings over assets in Iraq's
Kurdish region are not part of the suspension
imposed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
In a statement released this morning it said: "There
has been no formal statement of claim specifying the
damages requested in the arbitration to date.
" During our ongoing discussions with the [KRG], we
have understood that the arbitration is not part of
the present suspension period in Kurdistan, which
DNO is working to resolve as soon as possible."
The company added that the proceedings are
confidential and will not name the third party whose
claims to Kurdish interests it has rejected.
However, Upstream's sister paper Dagens Naeringsliv
said today the company involved in arbitration in
London is Ansan Wikfs Investments, owned by Yemeni
multi-billionaire Shaher Abdulhak.
The Norwegian paper said Abdulhak's company is
seeking Nkr3.1 billion ($533.4 million) in damages
from DNO springing from renegotiations to DNO's
production sharing contracts in the KRG last year.
At close of trade in Oslo yesterday, DNO was worth
Nkr3.8 billion.
The move followed the enactment of a new oil law in
the KRG. In March last year, DNO's PSCs were
rejigged to comply with the law, but the KRG did not
approve DNO's partners at the Tawke field,www.ekurd.netDagens
Naeringsliv said.
This prompted Ansan Wikfs and US player Porcupine to
demand compensation and damages from DNO. DNO has
denied the claim.
Last week, the KRG suspended DNO's operations in
Kurdistan for six weeks in the wake of a row sparked
by the release by the Oslo Stock Exchange of
documents relating to an October 2008 share deal.
The KRG claimed the incident had caused
"unjustifiable and incalculable harm" to its
reputation.
The KRG said that DNO had six weeks to remedy damage
done to the KRG's reputation, resolve its internal
issues with the stock exchange and "any other
disputes that they may have with any other third
parties with respect to any claims related to the
production sharing contracts".
The Oslo Stock Exchange has denied any wrong doing.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Iraqi parliamentarians
are seeking information about the dispute.
Ali Hussain Balou, head of parliament's oil and gas
committee, told Reuters a meeting was held yesterday
to discuss the issue and potential irregularities,
and that the committee had asked the KRG for
clarification.
"The oil and gas committee decided today to ask the
KRG and natural resources ministry to provide us
with a clear vision about this issue," he told
Reuters.
Officials in Baghdad have so far had little
involvement in the row.
"DNO is working on Iraqi soil and extracting crude
owned by all Iraqis, so we have the right to know
the rights and wrongs of the issue," Reuters quoted
Jabir Khalifa Jabir, a member of parliament and
secretary of the oil and gas committee, as saying.
The committee has little sway over oil issues in
Kurdistan, which vigorously asserts its independence
on energy deals.
The two sides have long been at loggerheads over the
right to sign oil deals, territorial borders and
other issues.
Baghdad deems oil deals the KRG has signed
independently with foreign companies as illegal,
despite allowing in June exports from fields they
had developed.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
upstreamonline com
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