Chevron says planning to return to Iraq’s Kurdistan
US energy giant Chevron has announced that it plans to return to Iraq’s Kurdistan “in the near future” for new drilling operations as tensions between the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous region eases.
Chevron announced in a statement as quoted by media that it planned to drill the Sarta 3 well north of Erbil which it had abandoned in October following a stand-off between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the government of Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
A spokeswoman for the company said it was already taking steps to send staff to Iraq’s Kurdistan again.
"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 was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal.
Oil operations were disrupted in northern Iraq after the Kurds voted in favor of independence in September. The move infuriated the federal government in Baghdad, which dispatched forces to retake the Kirkuk oilfield, which lies outside the KRG-run enclave, from Kurdish control.
Though the future of the region remains uncertain and only some of the disrupted crude shipments have been restored, the situation has not escalated further, opening the way for Chevron’s return.
“We are taking all necessary steps to re-mobilize people and equipment to ensure we are well prepared to resume operations,” according to the Chevron statement as reported by Bloomberg.
The world’s third-biggest oil company has an 80 percent stake each in the Sarta and Qara Dagh blocks.
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, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The region has carved out a significant amount of autonomy since the ouster of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, with its government striking deals with Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Russia's state oil firm, OAO Rosneft, over the objections of Baghdad.
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