DNO International ASA has received a payment of US $160 million from the Kurdistan Regional Government for past oil exports from the Tawke field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
DNO International’s share of the payment is US $116 million, with the remaining $44 million to be transferred to its partner Genel Energy plc.
DNO International will record its share of the payment in the fourth quarter of 2012. This is the third payment received by DNO International for oil exported from the Tawke field during 2009, 2011 and 2012. Previous payments were received in September 2011 for USD 60 million and in June 2011 for USD 104 million, bringing the total received from Baghdad for exports to USD 280 million.
“We are pleased to receive this latest payment as we continue to increase production capacity at Tawke and develop our other Kurdistan discoveries,” said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, DNO International’s Executive Chairman.
DNO International is the operator of the Tawke field and holds 55 percent interest of the license. According to the company’s Q3 interim report, drilling operations are ongoing as part of the Tawke production enhancement program targeting 100,000 barrels per day of gross oil production capacity by year-end.
The Tawke-18 well has been completed and is expected to be tied-in to the production facilities in the near future. This well was also designed to test an exploration footwall target below the main field-bounding fault, but the well was not drilled to this target as per the drilling schedule due to a decision to complete the well as a producer and move the rig to commence drilling of another well to meet the year-end production capacity target.
