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By John Lee.

The Iraqi Drilling Company (IDC) has successfully completed the drilling of oil well 199 at the Bai Hassan oil field, west of Kirkuk.

Drilling reached a depth of 1,810 meters, using the1,000-horsepower IDC 222 drilling rig.

The work was done on behalf of the North Oil Company (NOC).

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

By John Lee.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has denied seizing the Bai Hassan and Dawd Gurg oil fields in Kirkuk from the Iraqi federal government's Ministry of Oil.

On Saturday, the North Oil Company (NOC), which is owned by the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC), claimed that the KRG took over the fields in what it said was a contravention of Iraqi law.

The KRG has issued a statement saying the claims are, "completely untrue and are aimed at sowing discord."

Bai Hassan was originally controlled by the Ministry of Oil (Baghdad), but seized by KRG forces in July 2014. It was subsequently returned to Baghdad (NOC) control in 2017.

(Sources: NOC, KRG)

By John Lee.

A terrorist attack on the Bai Hassan oilfield in Kirkuk early on Wednesday has caused casualties and damage.

A statement from the Ministry of Oil said that wells 177 and 183 were bombed, and "a number of security forces and energy police were killed and wounded".

The safety and firefighting teams from the North Oil Company (NOC) and the supporting authorities were able to quickly extinguish the fire at well 177, but were still working to control the fire of well 183.

Sources told Reuters that production was not affected.

It's the second attack on the facility in less than a month; a bomb in April did not result in damage or injury.

(Sources: Ministry of Oil, Reuters)

By John Lee.

The North Oil Company (NOC) has said that two oil wells in the Bai Hassan field in Kirkuk were attacked in an act of sabotage on Saturday.

The explosions did not result in damage or injury.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Who owns Kirkuk, the major northern city with the major oil resources? The authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan have always considered it part of their semi-autonomous region which meant that the question was long a subject of debate between the Kurdish and the federal government in Baghdad.

Thanks to the security crisis caused by the extremist group known as the Islamic State, the Kurdish appear to have got their way, as their troops are now protecting the Kirkuk area, which has a big Kurdish population.

But now that Kirkuk appears as good as in Kurdish hands, it is clear there are also internal tensions between the Kurds themselves. The rivalry between the region’s two major political parties over Kirkuk was recently highlighted when, on March 2, armed men entered the headquarters of the Iraqi oil company, North Oil, in Kirkuk.

The office is in charge of sending the oil produced in Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey through the Ceyhan pipeline, from where it is exported to the rest of the world.

And the armed group stopped the oil from being transported for several hours, saying that they would remain until a dispute between Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil in Baghdad was resolved. Shortly after noon, pumping of oil resumed.

A few days later, it appeared the situation had been resolved, with the Iraqi government agreeing to address the armed men’s issues.

On the surface, it seemed that it was the same old gripe, with Iraqi Kurdistan saying that Baghdad was not giving them enough return on oil produced in the northern region. But in reality this was also about an old gripe between the region’s two largest political parties, who basically share power in the region, splitting territory, military forces and parliamentary powers between them: the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP.

By John Lee.

Reuters reports that four bombs caused damage and fire on Saturday near a minor pipeline that delivers crude oil from the Bai Hassan oilfield to a degassing station in Kirkuk.

Sources at the state-run North Oil Company (NOC) told the news agency that pumping had already been halted at the time of the blasts due to for maintenance.

(Source: Reuters)

By John Lee.

At least three people have been killed while seven others were injured when an oil tank exploded at the Bai Hassan oilfield on Monday.

A spokesman for the North Oil Company (NOC) said the blast occurred during a welding operation.

(Source: TBP)

By Simon Kent.

Kurdish and Iraqi officials are still thrashing out details of a more sustainable and far reaching oil revenue and exports deal, following the resumption of federal oil exports into the Kurdish pipeline from Kirkuk.

Last week, 100,000 bpd of Kirkuk crude from Baba Gorgor, Jambour and Khabbaz, three fields in the giant Kirkuk formation, were pumped into the Kurdish export pipeline, on the orders of Baghdad.

Previously, the federal North Oil Company (NOC) had re-injected the oil but there were growing fears this would damage reservoirs. At the moment, both sides are working on revenue arrangements for this oil, which will be exported from Ceyhan in Turkey (pictured).

While the NOC still has three fields in the Kirkuk formation, the Kurdish Peshmerga control fields occupied in June 2014, including Bai Hassan and Avana. A longer lasting deal therefore, may be politically difficult for both sides, since many Kurds also blame Baghdad for cutting off their budget share, which the Maliki government did in early 2014.

(Source: Bloomberg.)

By John Lee.

Militants from the Islamic State group (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) have reportedly attacked two energy facilities in northern Iraq on Sunday.

Reuters reports that four men stormed the 'AB2' gas compressor station, about 15 km northwest of Kirkuk, shooting dead four employees, wounding others, and setting off around five explosions.

Counter-terrorism forces regained control of the facility, but he attackers are believed to have escaped to the Bai Hassan oil station, 25 km further northwest, where they launched a similar attack, detonating explosive vests and destroying an oil storage tank. One engineer was killed, as were all of the assailants.

It was not clear when operations at the station, which had been pumping 55,000 bpd to Iraqi Kurdistan, would return to normal.

(Sources: Reuters, AFP)

This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Where Are The Petrodollars? Kirkuk Oil Flowing Fast, But Locals Never See Any Money

The province of Kirkuk exports millions of barrels of oil per month. But nobody knows where the money is going - and as a result, local protesters say they will try to stop oil exports soon.

Posted in Iraq Oil & Gas News Comments Off on Kirkuk Oil Flowing, but Locals Never See Any Money