Preparations completed for oil exports launch in Kurdistan

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: An official source from the Norwegian Oil Company DNO on Thursday said that preparations have been completed for the launch of oil exports in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, scheduled for June 1. “We have built 45-km long pipelines from Tawke field, east of the border city of Zakho, to the border point of Fishkhabour to reach the strategic Ceyhan pipeline,” the production director of DNO in Tawke oilfield told IraqiNews.com news agency. “We will export oil through this pipeline to the Turkish Ceyhan port on June 1,” he added. On May 9, the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG) 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). 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. It added that the exported crude from both fields will be marketed by Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), noting that the revenue will be deposited to the federal government’s account. SS (P)/SR 1