US oil firm Chevron will resume operations in Kurdistan: Spokesperson

An oil company from the United States on Tuesday said it would send workers and resume drilling operations in the Kurdistan Region.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – An oil company from the United States on Tuesday said it would send workers and resume drilling operations in the Kurdistan Region.

Chevron Corp. revealed it was “taking steps” to begin work at oilfields in Kurdistan after production was temporarily halted following a fallout between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government over the Sep. 25 independence referendum.

A spokesperson for the US oil company said Chevron “expects to restart our drilling operations at our Sarta 3 block in the near future.”

“We are taking all necessary steps to remobilize people and equipment to ensure we are well-prepared to resume operations” in the Kurdistan Region, the spokesperson stated.

The US oil firm has a stake in the Sarta and Qara Dagh blocks, the latter located in the province of Sulaimani.

Chevron temporarily stopped drilling in Kirkuk, a disputed territory between Kurdistan and Iraq, after the military takeover of the province by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militias last October.

The disputed province was under the protection of Kurdish Peshmerga forces since 2014 following the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) and the collapse of the Iraqi army.

However, in response to the Kurdistan Region’s historic independence vote, where an overwhelming majority voted for statehood, the Iraqi government used military force to regain control of Kirkuk and its vast oilfields.

Kirkuk accounted for nearly half of the KRG’s crude output as the Kurdistan Region secured deals with Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp, and Russia’s state oil firm Rosneft.

The takeover of Kirkuk by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed militias affected Kurdish crude exports as the Iraqi government announced an agreement with Iran to export oil from Kirkuk fields via tank trucks until a pipeline is constructed.