Norwegian DNO Halts Oil Production in Northern Iraq

The Norwegian oil company DNO has started halting production at its fields located in the territory of the Kurdish Regional Government, following the interruption of oil shipments through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline at the instruction of the Iraqi central government.

Iraq announced on Saturday that it had won the arbitration case it filed against Turkey in 2014 on the grounds that Ankara, which allowed the Kurdish Regional Government to export oil from the Kirkuk-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline, violated the agreement between the two countries.

Ankara then stopped the flow of oil to the Ceyhan terminal, creating a situation that could lead to the cessation of oil production in the region.

After DNO pipeline shipment stopped, production was diverted to storage tanks. However, the tanks can only store a few days’ worth of production.

A QUARTER OF THE OIL FROM THE KURDISH REGION

The company produced an average of 107 thousand barrels of oil per day in the Tawke and Peşkabir fields in 2022. This volume represents a quarter of the oil exported by the Kurdish Regional Government.

DNO CEO Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said: “It is unfortunate that the situation has reached this point, given the potential impact of supply disruption on oil prices at a time when global financial markets were fragile.” .

DNO stated that prior to the cut, 400,000 barrels of Kurdish oil and 70,000 barrels of Iraqi oil were shipped daily through the pipeline. (Reuters)