DNO ASA reported average second-quarter production of 153,346 bo/d from Tawke field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq after doubling the field’s capacity to 200,000 bo/d during the first half (OGJ Online, May 6, 2015).
DNO recently affirmed that production from Tawke continues despite a recent pipeline explosion (OGJ Online, July 30, 2015).
Of the second-quarter total, 118,037 bo/d, or 77%, was delivered to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for pipeline export through Turkey. An additional 31,378 bo/d was sold into the local market with the balance processed in the company’s Tawke refinery.
Kurdistan’s Ministry of Natural Resources recently announced plans to allocate monthly payments from its independent oil sales to DNO and other operators starting in September. But DNO says discussions continue with KRG to allocate export revenues to DNO on a regular, predictable, and continuing basis, consistent with the company’s contractual entitlements.
“We welcome regular export payments which are necessary to sustain our operations in Kurdistan,” said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, DNO executive chairman. “Without such payments, we will not be in a position to make further investments. And without further investments, production from the Tawke field will decline.”
The company previously reported that it “has curtailed new capital investments and is considering further cutbacks in operating costs.”
At the end of the second quarter, the company’s receivables from KRG for past Tawke production approached $1 billion, of which $829 million represented unbooked revenues for export sales and $118 million represented booked revenues for local sales and refined product sales.
Companywide revenues during the quarter increased to $55 million from $26 million in the first quarter, while net losses decreased to $40 million from $61 million in the first quarter.
DNO’s gross production during the quarter was 162,422 boe/d, including 9,076 boe/d from offshore Block 8 in Oman (OGJ Online, Nov. 1, 2012).