More oil companies preparing to go to the Kurdistan Region

Written on July 30, 2012 by Editor in KRG, Kurd news, Oil

News from KT:

Sources close to the international oil industry have told Al Hayat, a Saudi newspaper printed in London, that more oil companies are willing to go to the south of Kurdistan for oil exploration and investment

The same source confirmed that Chevron had wanted to start operating in Kurdistan without any delay although it has taken several months of intense negotiation.

The French oil company Total has told the Iraqi government that they are moving to the Kurdistan Region for economic reasons that have nothing to do with politics.

The Iraqi government and its energy minister Hussain Shahristani are very serious about blacklisting any companies that sign oil contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Shahristani has said that any such contracts are illegal and void and that Baghdad will penalise all those oil companies that work with the KRG.

Apparently the companies that want to join Genel Energy, Gulf Keystone, Heritage and others already in Kurdistan have indicated that they will take advantage of a situation in which there aren’t any effective oil and gas rules in Iraq.

Foreign oil companies have been attracted by the relative security and stability in the Kurdistan Region, compared to the ongoing mayhem and drift towards civil war in the centre and south of Iraq. Last week more than 110 people were killed and 200 injured in 40 explosions in Baghdad and across southern Iraq.