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French
energy giant Total buys stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan oil, from
Marathon
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Kurd Net
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French energy giant Total buys stakes in
Iraqi Kurdistan oil, from Marathon
31.7.2012 |
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French energy giant Total
signs deal in Iraqi Kurdistan
July 31, 2012
PARIS,— French energy giant Total said on
Tuesday it has signed an oil exploration deal for
areas in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq,
putting it on a collision course with the central
government in Baghdad.
The agreement comes with relations between the
autonomous region and Baghdad at a low ebb over
multiple festering disputes, including over oil
contracts and territorial claims.
"Total has completed an acquisition of 35 percent
interest in two blocks, Harir and Safen, held by
Marathon Oil," a US company, Total said in a
statement.
"With this transaction, Marathon Oil reduces its
stake to a 45 percent working (56.25 percent paying)
interest in each of the two blocks while remaining
operator of the Harir block and exploration operator
of the Safen block," a statement on Marathon's
website said.
"A Total subsidiary will become the operator of any
development of the Safen block. The Kurdistan
Regional Government continues to have a fully
carried 20 percent interest in each of the blocks,"
it said.
The Harir and Safen blocks are 705 square kilometres
(272 square miles) and 424 square kilometres (163
square miles), respectively, the statement said.
Iraq, which insists all oil deals must go through
the central government and regards any that do not
as illegal, was quick to condemn the move.
"We consider this contract illegal and
unconstitutional, and we will deal with this company
(Total) the same way that we have dealt previously
with companies that violated Iraqi law," said Faisal
Abdullah, the spokesman for Hussein al-Shahristani,
Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy affairs.
But Kurdistan insisted the deal was legal.
"This is our right. There are constitutional and
legal points that give us this right," said Sirwan
Abu Bakir, the adviser to Kurdistan's natural
resources minister.
The Total deal came a week after Iraq barred US
energy giant Chevron from working in non-Kurdish
parts of the country after it bought two exploration
blocks in the autonomous Kurdish region against
Baghdad's wishes.
Shahristani has previously warned Total that any
deal with Kurdistan would be illegal.
US oil giant Exxon signed an exploration deal with
Kurdistan in October, a move opposed by Baghdad to
the extent that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was
said to have appealed to US President Barack Obama
to help reverse it.
Total is part of a consortium along with China's
CNPC and the Malaysian group Petronas seeking to
ramp up output at the Halfaya field in Iraq's
southern Maysan province,www.ekurd.net
which has proven reserves of about 4.1 billion
barrels.
Iraq awarded the contract in December 2009.
Baghdad and Erbil are at odds over issues including
Kurdistan's refusal to seek approval from the
central government for oil contracts it has awarded
to foreign firms, and over a swathe of disputed
territory in northern Iraq.
A high-ranking Iraqi official on Sunday said
security agencies had uncovered a secret weapons
deal between Kurdistan and an unnamed foreign
country.
That announcement came after a top Kurdish security
official said Kurdish peshmerga security forces had
on Wednesday prevented soldiers sent by Baghdad from
reaching a disputed area that borders Syria.
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
AFP
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