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Iraq to sue Turkey, blacklist traders over Kurdish crude sales

Iraq’s oil minister said Friday that the country has started legal action against Turkey as part of the ongoing dispute over the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region’s independent oil exports. "The Oil Ministry has taken the necessary procedures by asking the legal parties in Baghdad and Ankara to start the legal process to conduct a lawsuit against the Turkish government because it allows the [Kurdistan] region to pump oil through the export pipeline without the approval of the central government," Abdul Karim Luaibi said Friday, according to a statement given to Platts by the Oil Ministry. Over the past year, the Kurdistan Regional Government has built a 300,000 b/d pipeline within its northern Iraq territory and connected it to the 40-inch-diameter leg of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline. Under a series of oil and gas export agreements signed between Erbil and Ankara late November, crude exports have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Genel Energy says Kurdish oil exports imminent

Genel Energy, led by former BP boss Tony Hayward , said Wednesday it expects oil from a pipeline in the Kurdish north of Iraq to be exported from Turkey soon. Genel said commissioning of independent pipeline infrastructure in the Kurdish north of Iraq is ongoing and “exports [are] expected to commence in the near future.” The Kurdistan Regional Government has already sent oil to a storage facility at the Turkish port of Ceyhan and Genel said deliveries should ramp up throughout 2014. Hayward said an energy agreement between the KRG and Turkey, coupled with the completion of the pipeline’s infrastructure, should lead to a rise in oil exports from his company’s Taq Taq and Tawke oil field in the Kurdish north. Genel said Taq Taq produced an average 77,000 barrels of oil per day and Tawke produced an average 39,000 barrels per day last […]

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Iraq: Maliki threatens Kurds if they export oil to Turkey

As if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki didn’t have enough problems battling city-grabbing al-Qaida insurgents in western Iraq, his simmering faceoff with independence-minded Kurds in the north over their drive to export oil to neighboring Turkey looks like it’s about to boil over as well. The Kurdistan Regional Government, which runs the land-locked, semiautonomous Kurdish enclave that borders Turkey, says it started pumping crude from its oil fields directly to Turkey through a newly constructed pipeline to the export terminal at Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast in early January. That openly defied Baghdad, which has branded the operation bypassing the state oil export network as illegal. The only other export outlet for the Kurds is to the south through the Persian Gulf, but Baghdad controls the export terminals there. Maliki insists the central government has sole authority over Iraq’s massive energy resources, and declared the […]

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Iraq threatens legal action over Kurdish oil sales

Iraq’s Oil Ministry threatened legal action against entities that receive oil from the northern Kurdish region, singling out a deal made with Turkey. The Turkish seaport of Ceyhan is set to receive the first oil from the Kurdish region of Iraq this month and the ministry said Sunday the move "is an avowed violation of the Iraqi constitution." The Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government in Iraq are at odds over who controls what aspects of the country’s oil sector, The central government took aim at its Turkish counterparts in particular, saying the oil sale would violate the spirit of regional agreements not to export crude oil from Iraq without the government’s consent, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.. The Kurdish government said last week it was inviting "reputable and financially capable companies" to register for crude oil sales. The first parcel […]

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Kurdistan to Sell Oil Via Pipeline to Turkey in January

The autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan said Wednesday it plans to sell the first two million barrels of oil exported through its controversial new pipeline to Turkey at the end of the month. In a statement posted on Kurdistan Regional Government’s website, it said prospective buyers would be able to lift the oil shipments from the Turkish port of Ceyhan under arrangements similar to those used by the Iraq State Oil Marketing Organization. The prospect of independent exports from Kurdistan to Turkey has infuriated Baghdad, which claims it has sole authority to market Iraqi oil. Baghdad’s refusal to approve an oil-supply deal between Kurdistan and Turkey announced in December delayed the start of flows through the pipeline until this month. Kurdistan already sends some oil to Turkey on trucks, but the pipeline will allow it to rapidly increase these volumes. Kurdistan says it expects exports to increase to four […]

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ExxonMobil rig up at al-Qush, drilling at Pirmam

ExxonMobil rig up at al-Qush, drilling at Pirmam ExxonMobil has spudded at the Pirmam block in Erbil province and has erected a rig in preparation for drilling at the al-Qush block in Ninewa province, breaking ground for the first time in the super major’s six-block deal with the autonomous Kurdistan region.Visits to the areas near both drilling sites show Exxon has mobilized Weatherford rig 888 to al-Qush, though drilling has not started, and Weatherford rig 887 to Pirmam, at the well called Maseif-1."Drilling operations in the region…

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KRG says independent tanker loadings to begin

KRG says independent tanker loadings to begin The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has announced that it will market crude from oil fields under its control sent autonomously of Iraq’s central government to the Turkish port of Ceyhan in a pipeline it claims as its own, with the first shipment up for sale before the end of January.On the KRG’s website late on Jan. 8, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) gave “public notice of the commencement of the sale of its first shipment of crude oil exported via Kurdistan Region’s new…

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For Iraq’s Kurds, Only Baghdad Foils Energy Windfall

;Just two decades ago, Erbil was a dangerous town, attacked on one side by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and on the other by warring Kurdish tribes. Today, this vibrant capital of Kurdistan, a semi- autonomous region in Iraq, is peaceful as expectations of an energy windfall are creating a boom and helping to refashion a traditional society and an ancient landscape. Hoteliers including Hilton and Kempinski are erecting buildings that now soar above the city’s 7,000-year-old Citadel. New shopping malls compete with the medieval bazaar. And Erbil’s historic downtown is ringed by luxury villas, residential towers and commercial offices, driven by a 20-fold surge in property prices since U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003. "A decade ago, Erbil was more like a big village," said Tahir Osman, deputy governor of Erbil Province who helped forge an urban development plan that calls for a Grand-Prix race track. "My dream […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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For Iraq's Kurds, Only Baghdad Foils Energy Windfall

;Just two decades ago, Erbil was a dangerous town, attacked on one side by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and on the other by warring Kurdish tribes. Today, this vibrant capital of Kurdistan, a semi- autonomous region in Iraq, is peaceful as expectations of an energy windfall are creating a boom and helping to refashion a traditional society and an ancient landscape. Hoteliers including Hilton and Kempinski are erecting buildings that now soar above the city’s 7,000-year-old Citadel. New shopping malls compete with the medieval bazaar. And Erbil’s historic downtown is ringed by luxury villas, residential towers and commercial offices, driven by a 20-fold surge in property prices since U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003. "A decade ago, Erbil was more like a big village," said Tahir Osman, deputy governor of Erbil Province who helped forge an urban development plan that calls for a Grand-Prix race track. "My dream […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraqi Kurds pump oil to Turkey amid fears of new clash

Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish enclave has reportedly started pumping oil direct to neighboring Turkey via a new pipeline even though Baghdad has not approved the landmark deal between the Kurds and Ankara, raising concerns of a new clash with Baghdad. But the Financial Times said Baghdad is expected to endorse the pipeline deal in negotiations now under way with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil and the Turkish government, a project that will have important geopolitical consequences for the region. The Iraq Oil Report, a website that monitors Iraq’s energy industry, reported the oil flow which began a week ago is primarily to test the pipeline. But it stressed this is "a significant step toward Kurdistan’s first independent pipeline exports." The Financial Times said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ‘s government will likely secure 83 percent of revenues generated by KRG exports with the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple