Turkey-KRG gas deal to be done in ‘Q1 2014’

ISTANBUL

Genel Energy says the gas sales deal between Turkey and the KRG in northern Iraq is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of the next year. AFP photo

Genel Energy, the Anglo-Turkish oil and gas company, has said the finalization of a gas sales agreement between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq is expected in the first quarter of 2014.

“We completed our first domestic gas sales contract in the third quarter and anticipate the finalization of the gas sales agreement between Turkey and the KRG in the first quarter of 2014,” Tony Hayward, chief executive of Genel Energy, said in a written statement yesterday.

The final phase of the KRG independent oil pipeline infrastructure from Dohuk to Fishkhabur is now complete and tied in to the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, he said. “Pipeline commissioning is ongoing with line-fill of the Taq Taq to Khurmala section complete. Mechanical completion and full commissioning of KRI independent oil pipeline infrastructure still expected by the end of 2013. Full oil export via KRI independent export infrastructure is still expected in the first quarter of 2014,” Hayward added.

Genel Energy’s net working interest production for the third quarter of 2013 averaged 53,000 barrels per day (bpd), with a 10 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Its 2013 revenue guidance is unchanged at $300-400 million.

Genel Energy now operates in seven sites in the KRG, including Chia Surkh, Dohuk, Miran, Bina Bawi, Taq Taq, and Kewa Chirmila. However, there is a long-running dispute between the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous KRG over how to develop the country’s resources.