Oil majors still cautious over Kurdistan deals
SOME oil companies are still reticent about tapping into Kurdistan’s plentiful energy resources, despite the regional government unveiling plans to start piping oil to Turkey earlier this month.
Kurdistan had been unable to exploit its oil reserves as Baghdad insisted that it retains control over Iraq’s energy resources – but the Kurdish province’s government has decided to go ahead without the Iraqi central government’s approval.
While firms such as France’s Total have entered the market regardless, City A.M. understands that FTSE 100-listed BP is not planning to expand into Kurdistan, in part to avoid triggering a dispute with Baghdad. BP operates the giant Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq and is currently assessing the Kirkuk oilfield in the north of the country.
“Our focus right now is on developing the Rumaila field and on completing the Kirkuk field studies,” said a BP spokesperson.
Oil majors would be right to be cautious. In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Kurdistan and the Iraqi central government threatened to kick it out of an oil field it was developing in the south. Royal Dutch Shell declined to comment.