Exxon Mobil is beginning to prepare the ground for its move into the Kurdish region of Iraq, despite ongoing protests and the request of an explanation of their behavior from Baghdad.
Exxon, the first supermajor to enter Iraqi Kurdistan after signing for six fields in the region, is sizing up housing, office space and other facilities in advance of putting staff on the ground to begin work at the fields it was awarded by the Kurdish Regional Government to howls of protest from Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussain Al-Sharistani.
“(Exxon) are definitely here and they are definitely assessing living and working accommodation,” said an unnamed industry source in the Kurdish capital Erbil told Reuters. “There are around 10 individuals here at any one time looking at what it takes to fully mobilise here.”
Exxon has maintained a media blackout since signing the deal in November, leading to speculation that they had misjudged the outcome of their sudden entry to the region. Initial hopes that Exxon’s clout would subdue Baghdad’s uncompromising rejection of the legality of production sharing agreements in the Kurdish region faded after a series of strong rebukes from Al-Sharistani and officials in Iraqi oil licensing directorate.
Baghdad has softened initial talk of revoking Exxon’s operatorship of the supergiant West Qurna 1 field in the South, which unlike Kurdish production sharing agreements is governed by a fee-per-barrel remuneration scheme that offers Exxon slim margins.
Iraq Oil Report is reporting that the administration of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki
Reuters reports that Exxon executives met the KRG’s Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami last week and are preparing to issue a tender for seismic at at least some of the six blocks it holds.
In a break from its transparency drive, the KRG has not disclosed details of the six blocks Exxon will operate or published the production sharing agreements that govern them. Instead, the names and locations of the blocks were published by Iraq Oil Report.
