Kurds pay oil firms for third month
The KRG vowed to re-establish regular monthly payments in August
The Kurdistan Regional Government paid international oil companies operating in the Iraqi autonomous region for a third consecutive month, disbursing funds that it says will allow production to be maintained.
Payments will improve when exports increase or the oil price rebounds, the KRG said Monday in an emailed statement. The government said the release of funds would be in line with those in September and October, which both saw disbursements of $75 million (Dh275.4 million).
Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd, Genel Energy Plc and DNO ASA were awaiting a November payment for the roughly 300,000 barrels a day they jointly produce. Shares of Gulf Keystone & Co said by phone on Monday. These payments allow the companies to manage their costs, but they’re not enough to reduce the amount that the KRG owes the oil companies, he said.
The three companies are owed about $1.7 billion from past crude exports. Unless this is paid, an increase in crude production isn’t possible, according to top executives at DNO, Genel and Gulf Keystone.
The KRG earned $3.3 billion from direct oil sales and received $1.98 billion in shared export revenue from Iraq’s federal government this year to mid-November.
The announcement came as the KRG’s prime minister and oil minister were due to speak at an investor conference in London yesterday. It also follows a ruling by a UK court ordering the KRG to pay $1.98 billion to Dana Gas and two other energy companies in a dispute over development rights for two oil and natural gasfields in Iraq’s selfgoverning Kurdish region.