Turkey, KRG pipeline to finish 'end of 2013'

The pipeline that will carry oil from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to Turkey will be completed by the end of this year, Anglo-Turkish oil and gas independent Genel Energy has said. "Significant progress has been made on the independent KRG pipeline infrastructure to Turkey, which is expected to be completed in the last quarter of this year," the company said in a written statement on July 31. The first phase from the Taq Taq field to Khurmala is currently operational with an initial capacity of 150,000 barrels oil per day (bopd). The second phase involves the conversion to an oil pipeline of a pipeline from Khurmala to Dohuk, which will have an initial capacity of 300,000 bopd and the conversion is now complete. The final phase is a pipeline from Dohuk to Fishkabur on the Turkish border, which is under construction and expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2013, Genel Energy said. Tony Hayward, chief executive, said Genel's exploration success in the first half of 2013 had added the equivalent of around 500m barrels of oil to its total contingent resources – an increase of more than 50 percent. He said a gas sales agreement between the KRG and Turkey could be signed by the end of the year, envisaging sales to Turkey of 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year. However, there is a long-running dispute between the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous KRG over how to develop the country's resources.