DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Dr Ashti Hawrami, Minister for Natural Resources at the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said Monday the Government is
ready to start a serious dialogue regarding oil contracts with the
Kurdistan Region.
MAIN FACTS:
-KRG ready to immediately restart the process of oil exports
from the Kurdistan Region's fields at a rate of no less than
100,000 barrels per day.
-It will also work to rapidly increase production to more than
200,000 barrels per day this year.
-"Although there are different views on the level of the profit
share to be allocated to the contractors, the reality obliges us
all to agree on the resumption of the oil export and to allocate a
certain percentage of the revenue from the exported oil to the
concerned contracted companies, to cover their actual costs."
-"This will create a suitable and a positive atmosphere to
enable us to start, as soon as possible, a dialogue about all other
suspended issues - particularly to open the door for everyone to
understand the framework of the contracts that the KRG has signed.
In particular we can then address the amount profit that is granted
to the contracted companies."
-"We do not object to offering the oil produced in the Kurdistan
Region by the contracted companies to SOMO (State Oil Marketing
Organisation of Iraq), assuming that SOMO then allocates part of
the Region's oil revenue either to the KRG to compensate the
companies involved, or for SOMO to directly compensate the agreed
amounts to the companies involved, provided that such payments do
not exceed the amounts that these companies have spent."
-"The balance of the derived oil revenue should then be
deposited in the Federal Government's bank account."
-The current relevant producing companies include DNO and
Genel.
-We are ready to form a financial committee composed of
representatives from the Federal Government's and the Kurdistan
Region's ministries of finance, along with representatives from the
aforementioned companies, to verify and confirm the exact amounts
of money that these companies have invested so far.
-For the sake of expediting this process, it is also necessary
to create another committee composed of representatives of the KRG
Ministry of Natural Resources, SOMO, DNO, and Genel, to confirm the
amount of oil produced and exported by these companies, and to
confirm the revenue that SOMO receives from the sale of the oil
produced and exported by them, to ensure that an accurate and a
fair compensation is made to them.
-Although the initial oil production will begin with 100,000
barrels per day, it will increase gradually and continuously to
1,000,000 barrels per day within five years from now.
-The anticipated revenue that the Federal Government will
receive from the oil production of the Kurdistan Region during the
coming five years from 2010 to 2014 will be: $2.75B (2010), $8.23B
(2011), $12.45B (2012), $18.27B (2013), and $25.62B (2014).
-The total cost compensation of the companies contracted in the
Region for the same period will be: $1.4B (2010), $0.9B (2011),
$1.05B (2012), $1.2B (2013), and $1.4B (2014).
-By 2015 the total revenue will be more than $27B per year, with
a cost compensation of $1.5B per year to the companies
involved.
-By Stockholm Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3090;
djnews.stockholm@dowjones.com
