Gulf Keystone increases production at Kurdistan’s Shaikan oil field

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – British-based oil firm Gulf Keystone Petroleum PLC on Monday said its operations in the Kurdistan Region were “safe and secure” throughout the first half of 2018, hoping to increase production by the end of 2019.

In a statement released on its website, Gulf Keystone described its operations for the first six months of 2018 as safe and secure.

The statement explained that Shaikan oil field achieved a gross average of nearly 32,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) for the first half of the year and 31,399 bpd for July and August, adding that oil production from the field will remain between 27,000-32,000 bpd for the rest of the year.

The company also revealed it had reached an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Natural Resource (MNR) and Hungarian Oil and Gas (MOL) “to increase production at Shaikan to 55,000 bpd during the second half of 2019.”

According to its statement, Gulf Keystone and its partners have continued to receive regular oil sales payments from the KRG since Sept. 1, 2015, with cash receipts of $107 million net to the company during the first half of 2018 and $147 million net to the company for the past eight months up until Aug. 31.

“The Company continues to make progress with the MNR and MOL to achieve further contractual and commercial clarity in relation to amendments of the Shaikan PSC, which it anticipates being concluded during” the final quarter of 2018, the statement read.

Jon Ferrier, Gulf Keystone’s Chief Executive Officer, said he was confident of growth in production at Shaikan as the oil field continues “to perform well from an operational perspective.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany