Kurd Oil Producers Unrelenting to Boost Supply at low Prices
Oil producers in Iraqi Kurdistan are unrelenting in their goal to boost output even after the collapse in international prices to below $50 a barrel.
Genel Energy Plc (GENL), headed by former BP Plc chief Tony Hayward, is sticking with plans to increase capacity 74 percent to 400,000 barrels a day this year at its Kurdish Taq Taq and Tawke fields. Norway’s DNO ASA (DNO) owns 55 percent of Tawke.
“The operational side of the business remains very resilient and very strong and we maintain our production increase targets,” Genel Chief Financial Officer Julian Metherell said by phone fromLondon. “Even at $50 a barrel we are looking at a revenue of $350 million to $400 million.”
Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (GKP), another oil producer in the semi-autonomous region, last month raised output by 60 percent to 40,000 barrels a day and sees 70,000 barrels a day in 2017. The company will keep increasing its output and seek to cut transportation costs by about 60 percent, Chief Executive Officer John Gerstenlauer said in a phone interview.
Oil prices dropped below $50 a barrel this month from $115 in June as the U.S. pumped crude at the fastest rate in more than three decades and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls to cut output. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar estimate surplus crude of 2 million barrels a day.
Prices Bottom?
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