“We continue to see progress,” said Genel CFO Luke Clements. “It’s painfully slow. But it’s not like we’re close and then it all blows up. It’s just small steps, but with good progress.”
Dana has said its gas fields in Kurdistan “could be the biggest gas fields in the whole of Iraq”.
Members of the producer group would not be in a position to produce oil for export until it is clear how they will be paid, it said.
“Together, we will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the energy sector."
APIKUR reported that its members had cut spending by around $400mn in 2023, with plans for 2024 in doubt.
Dana Gas CEO Patrick Allman-Ward said the company had made significant strides energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions in the past few years. The company has cut flaring 47% since 2019.
Gulf Keystone had previously trucked Shaikan crude to the Turkish border, for onward transport via pipeline to Ceyhan in 2015. It ended trucking in 2019.
ShaMaran said it would return to action only when Kurdistan has solved both the pipeline and payment problems.
Dana reported that at the end of the first quarter its share of trade receivables, via Pearl, was $80mn, up from $64mn at the end of 2022.
The region owes Gulf Keystone $102mn, for supplies from October 2022 to January 2023. Kurdistan paid $66mn for August and September 2022 sales.
“It is unfortunate it has come to this given the likely impact of a continuing supply disruption on oil prices and at a fragile time in global financial markets,” said DNO executive chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani.
One of the biggest oil producers in Iraqi Kurdistan has started to lower production as a dispute between the region’s government and Baghdad drags on.
Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has said it would discuss how to export “Iraqi oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan” with the authorities in Kurdistan and Turkey.
Receivables in Egypt had fallen in 2021 but began climbing once more in 2022.
The BTC pipeline carries about 1 million bpd, of which 400,000 bpd comes from Kurdistan.
KCA Deutag President Land Simon Drew said the contract extensions are “a key part of our strategy to grow our business in key markets such as the Middle East”.
Genel Energy has said its Sarta field, in Kurdistan, has fallen short of expectations and the company will need to impair the asset’s value.
Fresh violence erupted in a Kurdish city in western Iran and reports emerged of oil workers joining nationwide protests that have spread since the death of a 22-year-old woman last month in the custody of the nation’s so-called “morality police.”
Genel Energy has confirmed interim CEO Paul Weir to take over the role for good, with immediate effect.
TotalEnergies has completed the sale of an 18% stake in the Sarsang field to ShaMaran, completing its exit from the Iraqi region of Kurdistan.
Gulf Keystone Petroleum has benefited from increased payments from Kurdistan this year and adding the drilling of another well to its plans.
Shareholders at Genel Energy have rejected the election of three directors at today’s AGM.
Genel Energy has completed the Sarta-5 appraisal well but reservoirs appear tight and it failed to flow.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hosted Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in No. 10, with talks of energy security and supplies to Europe.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) fired missiles into a Kurdistan city, the autonomous region of Iraq, on March 12.