LONDON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Companies operating in the Kurdish north of Iraq said Monday they reached a milestone in terms of production and shipments for exports through Turkey.
Gulf Keystone Petroleum, a British company, announced with its Hungarian partner, MOL, it was now producing oil from seven wells in the Shaikan development in the Kurdish north of Iraq and expected an eighth to come online later this month.
As of Dec. 29, the companies said production was around 40,000 barrels of oil per day, with a record number of 354 trucks crossing the Turkish border with a combined 58,000 barrels of Shaikan crude oil for export sale.
"No question, reaching [the] production level is a significant milestone in the project," MOL Executive Vice President Alexander Dodds said in a statement. "However, the further upside is huge."
In December, the Kurdish and Iraqi central governments brokered a deal ending a simmering impasse over who controls what parts of the oil sector in the country.
The semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government under the terms of the agreement funnels 250,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad and agrees to use the federal State Oil Marketing Organization for marketing. Both sides will also facilitate exports from oil fields in disputed territory in Kirkuk.
John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone's chief executive officer, said 2014 ended on a high note for operations in the Kurdish north. Production and export sales from the region increased nearly 300 percent last year, he said.
"Our immediate focus is to ensure a stable daily production rate of 40,000 gross barrels of oil per day, which is a base for future production growth, whilst maintaining a regular payment cycle for Shaikan export oil sales by truck and to finalize a pipeline access solution for Shaikan," he said in a statement.
