ERBIL, Iraq, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Gulf Keystone Petroleum announced it was ready to start shipping oil from assets in northern Iraq during the first half of 2012.
Last month, the London-listed energy company said it might need another pipeline to get oil from its Shaikan field in northern Iraq. The company aims to produce 15,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.
John Gerstenlauer, chief operating officer at Gulf Keystone, said, in a statement, that his company was working on upgrading operations at the Shaikan complex.
"The work on the upgrade will be completed in the first half of 2012 and will be followed by the development of the pipeline project to connect the Shaikan field with the Kirkuk-Ceyhan export pipeline," he said.
Gulf Keystone said it's completed a feasibility study on the pipeline and was in the process of submitting it for necessary approvals.
Oil flowed for just four months after it started in June 2009 because of legal disputes between the Kurdish government and Baghdad.
