LONDON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Genel Energy, led by former BP boss Tony Hayward, said Wednesday it expects oil from a pipeline in the Kurdish north of Iraq to be exported from Turkey soon.
Genel said commissioning of independent pipeline infrastructure in the Kurdish north of Iraq is ongoing and "exports [are] expected to commence in the near future."
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.
Hayward said an energy agreement between the KRG and Turkey, coupled with the completion of the pipeline's infrastructure, should lead to a rise in oil exports from his company's Taq Taq and Tawke oil field in the Kurdish north.
Genel said Taq Taq produced an average 77,000 barrels of oil per day and Tawke produced an average 39,000 barrels per day last year and that should increase about 50 percent from their 2013 levels this year.
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.
