Kurdistan RegionG says will launch oil exports in early June

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Kurdistan region said it would start exporting oil early next month, according to a statement released by the regional Natural Resources Ministry. “On behalf of the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG), the Ministry of Natural Resources has announced the official start on June 1, 2009 of oil exports from the Tawke field at an average rate of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd),” read the statement that was published on the ministry’s official web site. The ministry also said that 40,000 bpd of crude exports from Taq Taq field would begin traveling by truck and through an Iraqi-Turkish export pipeline. The statement explained that the exported crude from both fields will be marketed by Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO), noting that the revenue will be deposited to the federal government’s account “for the benefit of all Iraqi people.” SS (P) 1