DNO ramping up production at Tawke oil field in Kurdish Iraq despite ISIS violence

The firm said it has stepped up security protocols, retained key operational staff and reinforced its management team.

DNO said a number of its suppliers and contractors had halted operations and left the country, so it would change to work with local suppliers, although it realised progress on some work would be affeShow more

Norway’s DNO bucked the recent trend of oil firms suspending operations in Kurdish Iraq, saying yesterday that it remains committed to operations there and will be ramping up production at its Tawke field.

DNO, which is 42.8 per cent-owned by RAK Petroleum, announced record second-quarter gross production of just under 139,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d), up 76 per cent from the previous quarter (the company’s working interest in that production is about 59 per cent).

Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, DNO’s executive chairman, said: “We’ve had feet on the ground in Kurdistan for 10 years, including during the recent crisis as well as in past ones, and remain fully and firmly committed to our operations.”

In the second quarter, the company said it hit record daily production of 133,192 barrels at its Tawke field, located in north-west Kurdish Iraq, on the Turkish border. DNO is developing the field with target production of 200,000 bpd. It also has operations in Dohuk and Erbil in the Kurdish Iraq region.

On the financial side, the company reported sales up 10 per cent over the previous year’s second quarter, at US$143 million, but net profit down 7.5 per cent, at $44.4m, owing to higher costs.

While saying it was “charging ahead at Tawke”, DNO conceded that “the security situation will dictate execution” of its development plans for the field.

In recent weeks, as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) insurgents spread fear and mayhem as they advanced through northern Iraq, a number of oil companies said they were suspending operations and pulling out staff. In more recent days, Kurdish counter-insurgent forces, supported by US air strikes, have taken back territory, including the Mosul Dam, one of Iraq’s largest sources of hydroelectricity and water.

Nonetheless, companies including Abu Dhabi’s Taqa, as well as Genel and Chevron, have not yet said they will be resuming operations.

Yesterday DNO said that as well as plans to expand production further at the Tawke and Benenan fields in Kurdish Iraq, it will begin exploring new blocks onshore in Oman and offshore Tunisia. The company also has operations in Yemen and Ras Al Khaimah.

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