DNO: Huge profit increase from Kurdistan oil fields; new drilling to start

The company is expected to boost output by another 15,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to 50,000 by the end of the year.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Norwegian oil and gas firm DNO announced an over 80 percent increase in this year's profit from oil fields it operates in the Kurdistan Region and also that it will soon begin drilling at multiple new wells.

“At around 35,000 [barrels per day (bpd)], Peshkabir [Faysh Khabur] has now leapfrogged into second place after Tawke among the Kurdistan fields operated by international oil companies,” read a cheery statement posted on its website on Thursday, which also said that the company will soon pay its investors their first dividends.

According to the statement, DNO is "the most active driller in Kurdistan," with three rigs operating across its licenses with a fourth to be added next month.

"Fast track development of the Peshkabir field is expected to boost output by another 15,000 [bpd] to 50,000 [bpd] by yearend.”

The statement said that DNO will commence operations at the Bashiqa field with another rig to be mobilized to start drilling the first well in September as part of a back-to-back, three-well exploration program.

The town of Bashiqa is located within territories disputed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraqi federal government. It is located 60 kilometers west of Erbil. The town itself is currently controlled by Iraqi forces, but the surrounding areas where the oilfields are located is under control of Kurdish Peshmerga.

DNO acquired a 32 percent interest in, and operatorship of, the Bashiqa license last year, joining ExxonMobil with 32 percent, the Turkish Energy Company with 16 percent and the KRG with 20 percent, the statement said.

Drilling at Peshkabir-8 well will start in 10 days, followed by Peshkabir-9 in October, and two newly completed wells, Peshkabir-6 and Peshkabir-7, will undergo final testing this month, said the statement.

"Kurdistan is back and so is DNO."

On July 30, DNO released numbers indicating its total output in the Kurdistan Region had surpassed its previously published targets.

Editing by John J. Catherine