By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 2 -- DNO ASA, Oslo, has spudded a well in far northern Iraq under production sharing agreements signed with the Kurdistan regional government in June 2004.
The operation is considered politically and legally controversial because the agreement does not involve Iraq's formative central government. DNO signed a memorandum of understanding on training and cooperation with Iraq's Ministry of Oil in April 2005.
After acquiring 440 line-km of 2D seismic data on the PSA areas earlier this year, DNO spudded Tawke-1 in late November and plans to drill to 3,000 m. The location is north of Mosul along the Mardin high east of Syria and near the Turkish border.
The company identified three prospective reservoirs on the structure, near the Iraqi border city of Zakhu.
Minimum work program on the 4,000 sq km of PSAs is 250 line-km of 2D seismic and three wells within 4 years from June 2004.
DNO operates the PSAs and is the sole contractor with a 40% beneficial interest.
DNO, which has production in Yemen, signed a PSA for a minority participating interest in Block 6 onshore Syria, subject to ratification. The contract has an initial exploration commitment to DNO of about $1 million.
