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French
energy giant Total signs new Kurdistan oil deal, shrugs off
Baghdad threats
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French energy giant Total signs new
Kurdistan oil deal, shrugs off Baghdad threats
20.8.2012 |
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Canada's ShaMaran says
sells 20 pct stake in Kurdish deal. $48 million deal
ignores Baghdad threats
August 20, 2012
PARIS,— French oil major Total has bought a
minority share in an exploration block in Iraq's
semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, ignoring threats
from the central government in Baghdad made after a
similar deal last month.
Total followed U.S. oil majors Exxon and Chevron
last month in disregarding Baghdad's warnings about
possible punitive action and signing contracts with
the country's Kurdistan region directly.
Canada's ShaMaran Petroleum Corp said on Monday a
unit of the French company had paid $48 million for
a 20 percent stake in the Taza exploration block in
the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniyah in northern
Iraq.
The exploration well is operated by Papua New
Guinea's Oil Search, which has 60 percent of the
contract. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG),
based in Erbil, owns the remaining 20 percent,
ShaMaran said in a statement.
In July, the French major bought a 35 percent stake
in the Harir and Safen exploration blocks in
Kurdistan,www.ekurd.net
where crude reserves are plentiful and contract
terms more attractive than in the southern part of
the country.
The move drew an angry response from Iraqi
authorities, who warned Total, which has an 18.75
percent stake in the Halfaya oilfield in the
southern Missan province, that it would be forced to
sell it if it did not cancel or freeze deals with
Kurdistan.
The petroleum deals are worsening already tense ties
between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan, autonomous
since 1991, in their long-running dispute over land
and oil rights.
Total could not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
Reuters
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