Norwegian oil and natural gas company DNO International announced it encountered oil at a well in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq.
DNO said at its general meeting in Norway its latest testing from its Peshkabir-1 well in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of Iraq confirmed the presence of oil.
"Testing is ongoing to acquire additional data," the company said in a statement.
Early this year, DNO and its Turkish partner, Genel Energy, announced a goal of establishing 100,000 barrels per day from the lucrative Tawke field in Kurdish north by the end of the year.
The central government in Iraq considers unilateral deals with the Kurdish government to be illegal. Iraq had its fourth international licensing round recently, though few companies expressed interest in part because of the contractual conditions set by Baghdad.
A series of bombs exploded in northern Iraq during the weekend. Two oil pipelines were damaged.