The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) oil exports are forecast to reach 250,000 b/d in 2013, to quadruple to one million b/d by 2015, and to rise by 8 times to 2 million bpd by 2019, mainly due to ongoing oilfield discoveries.
The KRG indicated that it would start exporting its crude oil directly to global markets via Turkey through a new pipeline in the third quarter of this year. The new pipeline is designed to carry up to 300,000 b/d of oil.
In parallel, Turkey and the KRG made progress on an energy partnership framework that would mainly cover the pricing of the KRG's gas exports and direct upstream investments by Turkish companies in the KRG. The KRG currently holds an estimated 45 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Reuters, Bloomberg, Citigroup
19 April
