Oil Production in Kurdistan is Recovering
Norwegian DNO resumes production at the Tawke field in Iraqi Kurdistan after pipeline supplies from the region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan resumed for further exports
The Norwegian DNO, which is developing oil deposits in Iraqi Kurdistan, has announced the resumption of production at the Tawke field. Production was halted in March after Turkey stopped transporting oil from Kurdistan.
Tawke refers to the gas-bearing basin of the Persian Gulf. The field was discovered in 2006, its initial reserves were 1.7 billion barrels or 239 million tons.
It is worth noting that DNO is developing two Peshkabir and Tawke fields in Kurdistan, which in 2022 produced 107,000 bpd, or 25% of the autonomy’s total production.
Prior to the suspension of oil supplies via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey, Kurdistan supplied the world market, according to various estimates, from 400,000 to 450,000 b/d of oil. However, the deliveries stopped due to the decision of the arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, which satisfied the demand of Baghdad that Erbil should coordinate deliveries from the Kurdistan region. Ankara complied with the decision, in March it stopped receiving oil in Ceyhan.
The debate on the resumption went on for several months, at the end of July, the Iraqi oil producer SOMO announced a deal between Iraq, Kurdistan and Turkey, according to which SOMO would control Kurdish oil supplies. Deliveries have finally resumed: from mid-June to the end of July, more than 50,000 barrels of oil were exported. The issue of compensation to Iraq by Turkey for oil supplies from Kurdistan in previous years is still open.
