Kurdish oil: KRG. IOC, PSA, Avana Dome, Baba Dome, Kirkuk and Bai Hassan fields

After skirmishes between ISIL and KRG forces around the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan fields, the KRG took over operations at the Avana Dome, a part of the Kirkuk field, and Bai Hassan in July 2014. Shortly after, KRG restarted commercial production at those fields, which allowed the KRG to increase oil flows through its newly built pipeline that connects to Ceyhan.   

Meanwhile, Iraq's Northern Oil Company continued to produce about 120,000 bbl/d from the Kirkuk's Baba Dome, of which 30,000 bbl/d was sent to the Kirkuk refinery.16 The remainder of the oil production was reinjected into oil fields associated with natural gas to keep natural gas production flowing for power generation.

A December 2014 deal reached between Baghdad and the KRG has allowed Kirkuk crude to be transported via the KRG pipeline to Ceyhan, providing Baghdad with a commercial outlet for its northern production (see section on Issues between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad). Fighting around Kirkuk city continues to take place, making nearby fields vulnerable to supply disruptions.

International oil companies (IOCs) are very active in Iraq, including the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. IOCs operate under technical service contracts (TSCs) in Iraq, which are signed with the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad, and under production-sharing agreements (PSAs) in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region signed with the KRG. Over the years, KRG's push to sign PSAs with IOCs has escalated tensions with Baghdad, making the situation uncomfortable for some IOCs who have been pressured on different occasions to reduce their investments in Kurdistan.

Production in the northern region controlled by the KRG in the past has tended to fluctuate because of disputes with the central Iraqi government, but recently it has steadily increased. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates KRG's crude oil production averaged 350,000 bbl/d during the second half of 2014. Increased pipeline capacity has allowed the KRG to increase output at its fields, while exporting it through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. 

KRG's Ministry of Natural Resources reported that oil flows through the Kurdish crude pipeline to Turkey, which started in May 2014, reached as high as 300,000 bbl/d in November 2014,9 but pipeline flows fluctuated in 2014 typically averaging below that level. The KRG also trucks between 50,000 and 100,000 bbl/d of crude and condensate to the Turkish ports of Mersin, Dortyol, and Toros, and to Iran.


November 14 2009 Tawke Talk: Galbraith replies


Peter Galbraith said his work for DNO was never secret, and his ties to the company no longer exist. His former relationship with the oil firm now is the subject of an arbitration process in London, where he is pursuing damages for breach of contract.

"I do not have any business or financial interest in DNO," Galbraith said in an interview. "I also do not have any interest in any Kurdish oil field." He said he had disclosed his ties to DNO in documents he gave the U.N. when it hired him earlier this year.


After DNO, a Norwegian company, and Genel Energy, a Turkish company, struck oil at the Tawke field in Kurdistan this year, Baghdad originally refused to export their production over its pipelines. The cash-poor government eventually relented, however, giving its approval in late May.

Exports from Tawke and from a second site in Kurdistan, at the Taq Taq field, started June 1, but Baghdad has refused to pay the companies for the oil because it continues to regard their contracts with Kurdistan as illegal.

Meanwhile, officials in Kurdistan said they could not afford to pay because revenue from the fields went directly to Baghdad. Chief Financial Officer Haakon Sandborg said the figure relates to uncertainty over the timing and final pricing of exports, as and when payments are received from Baghdad, but said "it's not an expectation that we won't get revenue" and noted it could be reversed or changed. NYTimes

Oil and gas shale plays in Neuquen Argentina

January 2012, YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA), Argentina's biggest oil and gas company, said it had confirmed 927 million barrels of unconventional oil in Neuquen province. That came on the heels of last December's announcement that YPF had found an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of unconventional gas at its Loma La Lata field. YPF's majority shareholder is Spain's Repsol YPF SA (REPYY, REP.MC), which has a 57.4% stake in the company. Argentina's Grupo Petersen holds a 25.4% stake while the company's free-floating shares total about 17%. The finds could position Argentina among the world's leading producers of shale oil, or unconventional oil extracted from tight sands or shale rock formations and create a large-scale boom in investment and production such as now being witnessed in North American shale plays such as Eagle Ford and Bakken,.

Aldous Major South - Avaldsnes- 38 days of oil

The Aldous Major South - Avaldsnes discovery on the Utsira High structure is currently estimated to contain 1.7 to 3.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The astonishing thing about this discovery is that it has lain undiscovered in a mature oil province for so long providing ample encouragement for explorers to go on exploring.

Oil Glut:light in the end of the tunnel

OPEC has decided not to cut output, despite record levels of crude in inventories and weak demand forecasts, with some cartel members believed to have ignored previous commitments to cut.
OPEC sees no need to change its guidance to oil exporters – even though oil prices are hovering around a six-month high of $63/bbl. At their meeting in Vienna members agreed stick to the current levels of output, despite oversupply, with OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri, saying the organization is looking to foster economic recovery.
”The market is oversupplied, but we are seeing a light in the end of the tunnel. There is a slow recovery and we don’t want to send the wrong signal to the economy.”
With recent production cuts of 4.2 million barrels per day, OPEC members lost revenues totaling $400 million Al Badri says.
Some countries can’t withstand such losses and have exceeded their quotas – undermining OPEC’s authority,

North Sea Aldous Major South 1.6 bbl

Statoil ASA , together with partners Petoro AS, Det norske oljeselskap ASA and Lundin Norway AS, has confirmed significant additional volumes in its appraisal well in the Aldous Major South discovery (PL265) in the North Sea.
The results of appraisal well 16/2-10 have increased production license PL265 estimates to between 900 million and 1.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.
This is a doubling of the previously announced PL265 volumes of between 400 and 800 million barrels of oil equivalent.
It has previously been confirmed that there is communication between Aldous in PL265 and Avaldsnes in PL501, and that this is one large oil discovery.
“Aldous/Avaldsnes is a giant, and one of the largest finds ever on the Norwegian continental shelf. Volume estimates have now increased further because the appraisal well confirms a continuous, very good and thick reservoir in Aldous Major South,

New world oil map

The outline of a new world oil map is emerging, and it is centered not on the Middle East but on the Western Hemisphere. The new energy axis runs from Alberta, Canada, down through North Dakota and South Texas, past a major new discovery off the coast of French Guyana to huge offshore oil deposits found near Brazil. The new hemispheric outlook is based on resources that were not seriously in play until recent years — all of them made possible by technological breakthroughs and advances. They are “oil sands” in Canada, “pre-salt” deposits in Brazil and “tight oil” in the United States.
yergin




The Zaedyus well is being drilled in the Guyane Maritime licence using the ENSCO 8503 deepwater semi submersible. The well was drilled in water depths of 2,048 metres and has been drilled to a depth of 5,711 metres. Drilling operations will now continue and the well will be deepened to over 6,000 metres to calibrate the deeper geology. The well will then likely be sidetracked to enable cores to be obtained over the reservoir sections.

Tullow (27.5%) operates the Guyane Maritime license and is partnered by Shell (45%), Total (25%) and Northpet (2.5%), a company owned 50% by Northern Petroleum and 50% by Wessex Exploration.
Tullow was citing six additional prospects off French Guiana with a similar make-up to Zaedyus suggested major potential in the coastal area extending from
Guyana through offshore Suriname and French Guiana and into
northeast Brazil's maritime area.
"It's a potential game-changer -- in the sense of the size,
that you have an area with such immense prospects," here

Commodity prices: oil vs. wine

Emerging economies have accounted for more than 100% of the increase in global oil demand since 2000, while oil consumption in rich countries has declined. Likewise, rising incomes in emerging economies have spurred wine drinking, whereas consumption in Europe, notably France and Italy, has fallen. China (including Hong Kong) overtook Britain last year as the biggest export market for Bordeaux wines. So for both wine and oil, emerging economies now account for the bulk of incremental changes in demand and therefore have the biggest influence on prices.

Not only are emerging economies growing faster, but their growth is more energy intensive. Likewise, an increase in income seems to lead to a bigger rise in wine demand in these economies than in the rich world, and so gives a bigger boost to prices.