Oil companies are resuming work in Kurdistan as security improves in the Iraqi autonomous region after unrest that led to staff evacuations.
Oryx Petroleum Corp., a Canadian explorer, said today it’s increasing production at the Demir Dagh field, its core asset. ShaMaran Petroleum Corp. said yesterday it resumed drilling operations at the Atrush block where work had been suspended for 21 days.
Kurdistan’s energy boom was threatened when Islamic State took control of a vast swathe of northern Iraq and neighboring Syria. The militants have been fighting Kurdish forces known as peshmerga just 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the capital Erbil.
Activities at two other sites remain suspended “pending further improvement in the security environment,” Calgary-based Oryx Petroleum said in a statement.
Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. said Aug. 28 it will send staff back to Kurdistan after U.S. airstrikes eased the threat from Islamic State that prompted a mass evacuation of expatriate oil workers three weeks earlier.