By John Lee. Bloomberg reports that Oryx Petroleum Corp. (OXC) is to drill a well at its Banan site in Iraqi Kurdistan in the third quarter. The company, Canada’s newest publicly traded oil explorer, is hoping to find out of the site has the same type of reserves as its Demir Dagh discovery, which has 160 million […]
By John Lee. Exxon Mobil has begun exploration for oil in Kurdistan Region, according to a report from PUKmedia. Safeen Dezae, Spokesman for the KRG, told the news agency that the company began its first stage of exploration with the scoping of locations; the second stage will involve exploratory drilling. Regarding the impact of the […]
By John Lee. According to Iraq Oil Report, Austria's OMV will hand back two exploration blocks to the Kurdistan Regional Government. In its latest trading statement, OMV said it had written off exploration expenses at the "unsuccessful wells and exploration licenses" relating to the Mala Omar and Shorish blocks. The company has failed to find […]
Foreign oil companies are flocking into Kurdistan, finding new oil fields and bringing hopes that the country could become a big oil producer on its own. Javier Blas, commodities editor of the Financial Times, travels across the Kurdstan region of Iraq to check whether the hopes of many oil executives are for real: Foreign oil […]
WesternZagros Resources has just published the best publicly-available map of oil and gas exploration activity in Northern Iraq that we have seen so far. It includes recent activity and current forecasts for all fields in the area, and can be freely accessed by clicking here.
The Sunday Times, citing unidentified industry sources, reports that French oil and gas producer Total is close to securing exploration rights over several exploration blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan. A deal could be announced within weeks, according to the newspaper. Chevron and ConocoPhillips are also believed to be competing for rights in the semi-autonomous region, following […]
Despite objections from Baghdad, ExxonMobil already has personnel on the ground in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to Reuters. Whiel the company has kept silent on its exploration agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), one central government regards as illegal, one Western industry source in Erbil told the news agency: "They [Exxon] are definitely here and […]
Kurdish oil minister Ashti Hawrami (pictured) has confirmed the names of the six exploration blocks awarded by the Kurdistan Regional Government to ExxonMobil: Al Qush, northwest of Erbil city and formerly assigned to Komet Group but withdrawn for lack of development; Bashiqa, southeast of Al Qush town; Pirmam in Erbil; Betwata; Qura-Hanjeer, southwest of Chamchamal; […]
An adviser to the Resources Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) confirmed on Friday that ExxonMobil has signed agreements to explore for oil and gas in six blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to Dow Jones. This is big news, as the Baghdad government has previously excluded companies operating in the Kurdish region from oil contracts […]
In our ongoing efforts to brings you all the best information on doing business in Iraq, we continue to add to the list of reports available from our reports service. This week we've added two reports on energy exploration and electricity generation: Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Outlook in Iraq to 2015, an essential […]
Groundstar Resources has announces that the consortium has concluded operations at the Qara Dagh -1 exploration well; the company's shares closed down 28% on Friday. The well has been drilled to a total depth of 4,196 meters, the maximum depth possible with current casing and drilling equipment, ending in the basal section of the Upper […]
Iraq's oil ministry said on Tuesday that it would unveil model contracts for oil and gas exploration blocks to pre-qualified international companies on 11th September, kicking off a process that will culminate with the award of contracts in January, according to a report from Platts. Iraq launched its first post-war exploration round in April, offering […]
