After a year of delays to drilling plans, Norwegian explorer DNO said on Monday it has discovered oil in the Peshkabir field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The Oslo-listed company said that its second well, which was spud in October, flowed at 3,800 barrels of medium oil per day. DNO estimates that the drilling to completion of the well will cost about US$17.5 million.
Drilling was set to start in 2015 but the drop in crude oil prices as well as delayed payments from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delayed operations. Drilling started after the KRG began making regular payments.
DNO, in which RAK Petroleum has a 40 per cent stake, is on an aggressive drilling campaign. That includes starting five new wells to explore the Cretaceous formations, which are known to have large oil deposits, by the end of last year.
The Norwegian company, along with partners Genel Energy and the KRG, is looking at the possibility of early production of Peshkabir oil and transporting it to the company’s nearby facilities at Fish Khabur.
“We are very encouraged by what we have seen so far in this well,” said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, the executive chairman of DNO and RAK Petroleum. “Certainly our subsurface and drilling teams have started the year on the right foot,” he said.
DNO’s shares increased in value by 34 per cent last year.
lgraves@thenational.ae
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