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The Norwegian oil exploration and development company DNO has announced that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has reinstated the company’s rights to its production sharing contracts in Iraqi Kurdistan with immediate effect
In a statement published on its website, DNO said that it can resume its role as the operator of the Tawke field without any restrictions.
“All issues with respect to the Notice from KRG have now been resolved and DNO is looking forward to continuing its successful cooperation with KRG to the benefit of the Kurdistan Region and all people of Iraq,” the statement said.
In a letter sent to DNO, the KRG said that it accepted that the dispute between the company and the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) that started the initial six week ban was “exploited” by the media.
“The selective information released on the KRG, which appeared amongst OSE’s published documents has created an ideal opportunity for the opponents of our [the KRG’s] oil and gas policies to try to undermine and damage the KRG’s success over the last three years,” the letter said.
“In the light of the above, we have decided that continued suspension of your operation in Kurdistan is no longer warranted,” it added.
The dispute centred around a US$29.7 million share transaction between DNO and Genel Enerji where the Turkish company Genel took around a 5% stake in DNO. An investigation by the OSE discovered that the KRG acted as an effective middleman through the use of a clearing account in the United Kingdom that the Norwegian media claimed was registered personally to Hawrami.
This led the OSE to accuse DNO of insider trading due to the KRG effectively becoming a DNO shareholder. Speculation was also rife both in Norway and abroad that due to the account being personal illicit personal gain could have been involved in the transaction.
