Talabani in Arbil to attend oil export launch

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani has arrived in Arbil city to attend the launch of oil exports from the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, scheduled to start today, according to an informed source. “President Talabani was received by the Kurdistan president, Massoud al-Barazani; Zalmay Khalilzad; as well as a number of officials,” a source from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) told IraqiNews.com news agency. “Talabani will also attend a celebration marking the 34 th anniversary of the PUK’s foundation,” according to the source. On May 9, the Ministry of Natural Resources in the regional government announced the official start on June 1, 2009 of oil exports from the Tawke field at an average rate of 60,000 bpd. The ministry also said that 40,000 bpd of crude exports from Taq Taq field, which has estimated oil reserves of 1.2 billion barrels, 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 (S) 1