TAQA buys 53.2% stake in Kurdish block

Co leveraging experience as operator of complex oil assets

ABU DHABI, Dec 1, (Agencies): Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) has bought a 53.2 percent operating interest in an oil block in Iraqi Kurdistan from General Exploration Partners (GEP), the company said in a statement.

GEP is a joint venture between privately-held Aspect Energy, which owns a 66.5 percent interest, and a subsidiary of Canadian group ShaMaran Petroleum.

“This entry into a pure exploration play demonstrates how TAQA is per day from the Alberta oil sands to refineries and ports on the US Gulf Coast.

US President Barack Obama denied approval for part of the US$7 billion pipeline earlier this year, while the US State Department asked for a new pro- leveraging its experience as an operator of complex oil and gas assets,” said TAQA CEO Carl Sheldon in the statement.

Earlier this year, TAQA bought a 50 percent stake in Kurdish power plant Chamchamal. TAQA said on Friday it had sold its 19.9 percent share in WesternZagros Resources, which has contracts for two blocks in the Iraqi Kurdish region.

GEP, which has an 80 percent stake in the Atrush block in Kurdistan, said in September it had found a com- posed route to avoid environmentally sensitive areas.

A southern leg of TransCanada Corporation’s pipeline was later approved but the northern portion still needs State Department approval because bined flow rate of 42,200 barrels of oil per day. The other 20 percent of the block is held by a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corp.

An autonomous region since 1991, Iraqi Kurdistan is often touted as one of the final frontiers for onshore oil exploration and has signed deals with foreign majors such as Exxon Mobil , Chevron and Total.

The Atrush block is located near Dahuk province, one of three provinces that make up the oil-rich Kurdish region in the country’s north. it crosses the border.

TransCanada submitted a new route for that section in September, and has said it expects a decision in early 2013.

Andre Plourde, an oil specialist at Carleton University in Ottawa, noted that Dahuk is 430 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

The venture boosts Taqa’s portfolio in the region. In April, it bought a 50 percent share in the 1,000 MW gas-fired power plant in the nearby Sulaymaniyah province, 260 kms (160 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Taqa is majority owned by the oilrich government of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, though more than a quarter of its shares are available to the public. refineries in the Houston, Texas area largely handle heavy crude oil, and are seeing dwindling supplies from key producers in Venezuela and Mexico.

This presents an opportunity for Alberta, which also produces heavy oil, he said.