Kurdistan oil strike delivers barrels by the million

Gulf Keystone Petroleum may have found up to six times as much oil in Iraqi Kurdistan as it originally thought, making its oil strike the second multibillion barrel discovery in the region this year. After encountering more oil while drilling its Shaikan-1 test well deeper, the British company said it revised its estimate of oil in place to between 1.5 billion and 3 billion barrels. That is up from the 300 million and 500 million barrel estimate it made earlier this month, and could translate to as much as 2 billion barrels of recoverable crude.

"The Shaikan-1 is proving to be a value-transforming discovery for Gulf Keystone," said Todd Kozel, the executive chairman of the company. "Even at this early stage, the commerciality of this discovery is substantially strengthened." Heritage Oil, the Canadian oil explorer that is merging with Turkey's Genel Enerji, announced in May that it found a giant oilfield in Kurdistan containing up to 3 billion barrels of recoverable crude.

Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region in northeastern Iraq, is one of the few jurisdictions with substantial untapped oil reserves that encourages junior oil companies to come and explore. tcarlisle@thenational.ae

Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?

Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.

They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.

“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.

He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.

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Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.