Page 7 - MEOG Week 44

MEOG PERFORMANCE MEOG

Independents provide update

on Kurdish operations

KURDISTAN INTERNATIONAL firms developing assets in equivalent produced (kg CO2e/boe) to 7 kg
the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq have pro- CO2e/boe, comparing favourably with the
vided updates on their projects in the semi-au- industry average of 18 kg CO2e/boe.
tonomous region. DNO and Genel have both said that they
Norway’s DNO announced that its Kurdish estimate that Q3 production levels will be main-
output had contributed 80,200 barrels per day tained for the remainder of the year.
(bpd) of oil out of the 97,900 of barrels of oil
equivalent per day (boepd) it achieved across its Payments and confidence
full portfolio during Q3. For Erbil, maintaining reliable payments to IOCs
The company operates the Tawke produc- for sales has been problematic and the situation
tion-sharing contract (PSC), which includes has only been worsened by the coronavirus
Tawke and Peshkabir, Kurdistan’s most produc- (COVID-19) pandemic, though there are signs
tive assets. DNO owns a 75% working interest of improvements.
(WI) in the PSC and is joined by London-listed In late September, the Tawke partners
Genel Energy, which holds the remainder. received a gross payment of $33.8mn, with
Gross output from Tawke and Peshkabir those involved in the Taq Taq PSC – Genel and
increased by 12% from Q2 to average 113,700 Sinopec-owned Addax Petroleum – received
bpd with a roughly 50:50 split between the two $4.7mn.
fields. Elsewhere in the region, Canadian junior
The increase in output came despite a roughly ShaMaran Petroleum, which holds a 27.6% WI
33% budget reduction implemented in response in the Atrush block, reported that a gross pay-
to lower oil prices and a four-month “payment ment of $16mn ($5.4mn net to ShaMaran) had
hiatus” from the Kurdistan Regional Govern- been received for September sales.
ment (KRG). Meanwhile, Gulf Keystone Petroleum
In a statement on October 29, Genel said that received a gross payment of $9-10mn for August
the budget reduction had “led to fewer drilled sales from its Shaikan oilfield, once heralded as
wells and instead the launch of a well interven- the mega-project that would dominate the Kurd-
tion campaign at Tawke and Peshkabir, with ish oil and gas industry.
both fields outperforming expectations”. Shaikan, in which GKP holds an 80% WI,
Gross production averaged 108,580 bpd dur- holds proven, probable & possible (3P) reserves
ing the first half, expanding to 115,000 bpd fol- of more than 900mn stock tank barrels, though
lowing fast-tracked activity amid improved oil the reservoir is highly fractured, which has led
price and payment stability. to complications developing the field and has
In a statement to press, Bijan Mossa- slowed production rates considerably.
var-Rahmani, DNO’s executive chairman, said: Last week, GKP said that it had received a
“Starting in June, our Kurdistan teams took up gross payment of $9.9mn ($7.7mn net) from the
the challenge of doing more with less, launch- KRG for September oil sales from Shaikan.
ing creative solutions they called Operation In another positive move, Dana Gas signed a
Throttle-Up and Operation Afterburner, which binding agreement to sell its onshore Egyptian
delivered the stellar operational results we report producing oil and gas assets for up to $236mn,
today. Once again, at DNO the oil we produce is as the company intends to focus on the develop-
conventional; how we do it is not.” ment of its assets in Kurdistan.
DNO said that testing had continued during Dana is a member of the Pearl Petroleum,
Q3 to determine commerciality following the which holds a concession for the Khor Mor and
completion of drilling at the Zartik-1 and Bae- Chemchemal gas fields, Kurdistan’s largest two
shiqa-2 wells in the Baeshiqa licence, with the non-associated gas assets.
latter yielding a discovery. Output from Khor Mor ran at a gross 96,000
The partners both added that as of the end of boepd, made up of gas, condensate, LPG and oil,
October, their Peshkabir Gas Capture and Injec- providing for roughly 75% of the region’s power
tion project had injected 2bn cubic feet (56mn generation.
cubic metres) of gas back into the reservoir, The partners intend to invest $487mn by the
which had enabled production to increase by up end of 2022 to increase gas processing capacity
to 5,000 bpd. to 640 mmcf (18mn cubic metres) per day, while
This has reduced emissions from the field Dana has previously spoken of ramping up to
from 14 kg of CO2e for each barrel of oil 900 mmcf (25.5 mcm) per day a year later.™

Week 44 04•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7