Chevron Says It Will Resume Drilling in Iraqi Kurdistan
January 16 2018 - 6:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Benoit Faucon
Chevron Corp. (CVX) said Tuesday that it is resuming drilling
operations in Iraqi Kurdistan and taking steps to send staff there
again, in a sign that tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdistan
Regional Government are easing.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. oil company said it "expects to
restart our drilling operations at our Sarta 3 block in the near
future."
"We are taking all necessary steps to remobilize people and
equipment to ensure we are well-prepared to resume operations" in
the autonomous region, she said.
Chevron temporarily halted drilling in Iraqi Kurdistan in
October after fighting erupted in Kirkuk, a predominantly Kurdish
area just outside the semi-autonomous region.
Iraq's central government successfully moved to take over Kirkuk
and its large oil fields after Kurdish authorities held a
referendum on independence from Baghdad. Kirkuk accounted for
almost half of the Kurdistan Regional Government's crude output and
had been held by the Kurds since 2014, when Islamic State advances
caused Iraqi forces to flee.
Iraqi Kurdistan has been hailed as one of the oil industry's
last great frontiers, though there is dispute about the size of its
reserves.
The region has carved out a significant amount of autonomy since
former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's ouster in the second Iraq
war, with its government striking deals with Chevron, Exxon Mobil
Corp. (XOM) and Russia's state oil firm, OAO Rosneft, over the
objections of Baghdad.
Write to Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 16, 2018 06:35 ET (11:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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