On Thursday, DNO, the Norwegian oil firm said that in July, it partly continued oil production at its Tawke field in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, supplying oil to the regional market at a discount as a vital export pipeline remained closed.
The firm beared a functional loss of $15 million for the second quarter, from one year ago the company’s profit of $81 million, as its comprehensive net production fell to 14,400 barrels of oil comparable per day, which is the lowest level in 13 years.
DNO stopped its production in Iraq’s semi-liberated region of Kurdistan after Turkey shut down an export pipeline in March following Baghdad’s victory in an arbitration case at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
On Thursday, the oil company said that its flagship Tawke field was now producing oil at a rate of 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), down from 44,400 in the Q1, while the Peshkabir field remained closed.
Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, the Executive Chairman of DNO, said in a statement that while there is no light at the end of the export pipeline, we are catching the headlights of approaching tanker trucks carrying up our Tawke cargoes on a cash-and-carry basis.
Iraq asked Turkey to resume oil export flows in May after getting an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Kurdish oil sales and payments, but the timing of the pipeline restart remains pending.
