LONDON, March 6 (UPI) -- Oil produced from the Kurdish region of Iraq was lower than expected during the fourth quarter, though the trend should reverse, Genel Energy said Thursday.
Anglo-Turkish company Genel said net production in 2013 averaged 44,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, about 6,000 barrels less than expected. A late 2013 fire at the company's Taq Taq field and "pricing sensitivity in the domestic market" for oil from the Tawke field, both in the Kurdish north of Iraq, were the primary causes of the production shortfall, it said.
"Production guidance for 2014 is set at 60,000 - 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, translating into a revenue guidance range of between $500 million - $600 million," the company said in a Thursday report. "Production volumes are expected to grow significantly year-on-year as the new [Kurdish] export pipeline comes into operation."
The Kurdistan Regional Government has already sent oil to a storage facility at the Turkish port of Ceyhan and Genel said deliveries should ramp up throughout 2014.
A January announcement from the KRG that its oil was delivered to Ceyhan prompted threats of legal action from the central government in Baghdad, which says unilateral energy deals with the Kurdish government are illegal.
