Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan plans to restart 100,000 barrels a day of oil exports next week in a goodwill gesture aimed at breaking a deadlock with Baghdad over payment for previous exports, according to an advisor to the Kurdish minister of natural resources and letters sent to foreign companies working in the region.
Iraq
's
semi-autonomous region of
Kurdistan
plans
to restart 100,000 barrels a day of oil exports next week in a goodwill gesture
aimed at breaking a deadlock with
Baghdad
over
payment for previous exports, according to an advisor to the Kurdish minister
of natural resources and letters sent to foreign companies working in the
region.
The move, which one of the letters said has diplomatic and political support
from countries whose oil companies operate in the region, comes at a time of
heightened tension between the governments in
Erbil
and
Baghdad
,
following the disputed entry of several major oil companies into the Kurdish
region contrary to the wishes of the Iraqi central government.
However, the resumption of oil shipments may only last until August 31, if the
long-running dispute with
Baghdad
cannot be resolved, according to formal letters, obtained by Dow Jones
Newswires, sent by Kurdish minister of natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, to one
of the contracting companies.
"What I have in mind is to restart the oil exports for only one month ie.
for all of August period," Hawrami said in a letter dated July 28. "If
the payments are not released by the end of this period, then we agree to halt
all the exports at the
midnight
of 31
of August," he added.
An advisor to Hawrami said he expects exports to restart only on August 7,
because companies need some time to prepare.
The Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, suspended crude oil exports of
nearly 100,000 barrels a day in April, protesting that
Baghdad
was
delaying payment of $1.5 billion it gathered in revenues from those exports. The
KRG said it needed those revenues to pay the companies that produced the oil.
Hawrami said in a letter that he was restarting exports without a commitment that
Baghdad
would make the disputed
payments, but that he hoped the gesture would break the negotiating deadlock
that has reduced Iraqi oil output.
Kurdistan
says only two payments totaling $514 million have
been received, with the last payment made in May 2011.
Baghdad
said
earlier this year that it would release the final payment of $560 million, but
was awaiting an audit before it could proceed. Mr. Hawrami, however, said that
the entire audit has been completed and sent to
Baghdad
, but
payment still hasn't been issued.
Within the Kurdish region, some 40,000 barrels a day can be exported from Taq
Taq oil field being developed by Genel Energy PLC (GENL.LN), which is partly
owned by Tony Hayward, the former chief executive officer of BP. Another 40,000
barrels a day can be produced from the Tawke oil field developed by
Norway
's DNO
International ASA (DNO.OS), in partnership with Genel Energy. The remaining
20,000 barrels a day will come from the Khormala oil field being developed by
KAR company, the KRG advisor said.
The KRG's has previously said that it could raise production up to 200,000
barrels a day, but only if
Baghdad
government issues the outstanding payments.
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