Oil upgrades planned for Iraq's north

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LONDON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Plant and a pipeline upgrade for operations in the Kurdish north of Iraq will add to production capacity at the Tawke oil field, a Turkish energy company said.

Turkish energy company Genel Energy, listed in London, said it planned to upgrade facilities at the Tawke oil field. This could boost the field capacity limit by 25,000 barrels of oil per day to 100,000 bpd by the end of the year, the company said in a statement.

Tony Hayward, chief executive of Genel Energy and former boss at British energy company BP, said the work in the Kurdish provinces underscores his company's confidence in resource potential in Iraq's north.

"We are delighted by the upward reserves revision, which further reinforces our belief that these are genuinely world-class assets in an area of outstanding geological heritage," Hayward said in a statement.

The announcement follows the disclosure that Iraq generated about $41 billion in oil and natural gas revenue in 2009. The disclosure means Iraq is in compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a global standard for transparency.

"Through the launch of its first EITI report, Iraq has taken a significant step towards transparency in its all-important oil sector," Clare Short, chairwoman of the EITI board, said in a statement.