Given the difficulties encountered during drilling operations, in the second quarter of 2010 WesternZagros undertook a comprehensive review of its operations to determine how to achieve better performance. The Corporation's Board of Directors and an external expert led this review, and the resulting recommendations were implemented. These recommendations included shifting certain technical roles from the head office to both the rig site and to the Corporation's office in Sulaymaniyah, increasing the technical resources available for planning and design for future wells, and working with our suppliers to improve the equipment and services available to the Corporation in the Kurdistan Region.
Political
The first fully democratic federal election, with all parties participating, was held in Iraq on March 7, 2010, with no one party winning a clear majority. During the fourth quarter of 2010, an agreement was reached to form a new coalition federal government with Nouri Al-Maliki and Jalal Talabani reappointed to their respective posts as Prime Minister and President. Prime Minister Maliki subsequently appointed Abdul Karim Luaibi as the new Minister of Oil.
In late 2010 and early 2011, Prime Minister Maliki and Minister of Oil Luaibi were both quoted as voicing their support for the Kurdistan Region's PSC's in their current form. Further to this, an agreement was reached to resume exports from the Kurdistan Region from both the Taq Taq field and the Tawke field with a goal to export 100,000 barrels per day by the end of 2011. In March 2011, both of these fields were reported to be on production at a collective rate of approximately 85,000 bbls/day and the oil was being exported from the Kurdistan Region.
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