Oil in Iraq

KNOC CEO Shu Moon-kyu (4th from left) and Oryx Chairman Jean Claude Gandur (5th  from left) pose at a hotel in Erbil, Iraq after the announcement of finding oil at the Hawler Block on April 1.
KNOC CEO Shu Moon-kyu (4th from left) and Oryx Chairman Jean Claude Gandur (5th from left) pose at a hotel in Erbil, Iraq after the announcement of finding oil at the Hawler Block on April 1.

 

The Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) succeeded in probing the Hawler Block in Iraq and has started the production of 40,000 barrels of crude oil a day. Officially, the Hawler Block’s reserves amount to 258 million barrels.

The corporation declared the commercial discovery of crude oil on April 1 at the block located in Erbil. The ceremony was attended by KNOC President Seo Mun-kyu, the top management of Oryx Petroleum, which has the mining rights there, and major personnel from the Kurdish regional government.

“The official reserves of 258 million barrels is that of the Demir Dagh Structure alone and the amount may increased up to 600 million barrels,” the KNOC explained, adding, “This means that the corporation has secured the largest amount of crude oil since its inception ever.” The corporation has already succeeded in ensuring the production of at least 8.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in the other three structures, too.

The KNOC is expected to own 39 million barrels of it given that Oryx Petroleum, the Kurdish regional government, and the corporation has 65 percent, 20 percent, and 15 percent shares in the Hawler Block, respectively. This is much higher than the production volume in the Vietnam Block (15.96 million barrels) and the Elephant Block in Libya (22 million barrels), both of which have been highly profitable for the KNOC.

The corporation is planning to produce 30,000 barrels of crude oil there from late May this year, when the facility construction is completed, and increase the volume to 40,000 barrels in late August. “We will build production facilities with a combined daily capacity of 100,000 barrels by 2018, securing 17 production wells in the Demir Dagh Structure,” the company said.

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