Erbil,– according to a statement made by chief executive of Genel, Mr. Tony Hayward, Kurdistan has a plan to produced 1 million bpd of oil for the next two years and this amount of production will end the political dispute between Iraq and Kurds.
Hayward has added that this will create a huge opportunity for both Kurdistan and Iraq and it will help to solve the problem.
He has also added that they would like to export oil and they believe that by next year the problem will find a resolution.
Taq Taq, Kurdish oil field is producing 105,000 barrels of oil every day. According to Hayward, Take is producing about 70,000 bpd now, but by the end of the year it will be producing 100,000 bpd of oil.
Erbil and Ankara have agreed upon building an export pipeline and this one will start working by next year of exporting 1 million bpd to Turkey every day. In spite of the year long dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, Kurdistan Regional Government had initiated exporting crude oil to Turkey at the beginning of July.
According to KRG, the payment deadline was up to the end of August.
The oil export was reinstated in August for a month, but temporarily. Before that oil export was halted in April for a dispute over payment. Afterwards, KRG has extended the oil export up to 15th September because it wants to provide a chance and more time to the discussion with Baghdad. This fact has been revealed in the statement made by the Minister for Natural Resources of the Kurdistan region.
According to Ashti Hawrami, they are right now in a serious and extended discussion with the Iraqi government regarding the fact of paying the foreign companies which have been working in the Kurdish region, so that Kurdistan can continue and increase the amount of exports.
According to a report, the Iraqi government is yet to pay Genel and quite a few oil companies for the export that happened in 2009 and 2011.
Kurds are looking forward to end the payment dispute. According to their estimation, Baghdad has to pay $1.5 billion to the companies which have been investing in the oil fields of Kurdistan.
According to another report, international majors, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Total have signed contracts with Kurdistan in the last few months and have ignored the threats and warnings given by Baghdad.
In the last year only, Exxon Mobil has signed 6 contracts with Kurdistan. All these contracts have been opposed by Baghdad and the central government has also added that Kurds are not legally authorized to sign such contracts. The government has also threatened that it will blacklist these companies if they continue their contract with Kurdistan Regional Government.
Source [AK News]