ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — US-based oil firm Chevron announced on Monday it has resumed drilling in the Kurdistan Region having suspended operations in mid-October following the independence referendum. “Chevron can confirm that it has resumed its activities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and we have restarted drilling operations at our Sarta 3 well,” Chevron spokeswoman Sally Jones said in a statement, Reuters reports. The block is operated by Chevron that has an 80 percent interest in the Sarta production-sharing contract (PSC). Sarta is just north of Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan Region. The company also operates at the Qara Dagh field with an 80 percent PSC, about 28 kilometers south of the provincial capital city of Sulaimani. The two blocks cover a combined area of 1,129 square kilometers. The firm had drilled a new well at its Sarta block in September but halted operations in the Kurdistan Region in mid-October 2017 after Baghdad moved Iraqi forces and Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries into oil-rich Kirkuk and other disputed areas claimed by Erbil and Baghdad. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) says its revenues have been slashed by almost half since the loss of Kirkuk oil production. Chevron began operating in the Kurdistan Region in 2012. Shortly thereafter, it was blacklisted by the Iraqi government for dealing directly with the KRG. Oil disputes and independent exports from the Kurdistan Region have been at the heart of disagreements between Erbil and Baghdad. The Iraqi government announced earlier in February it will not cover the gross payments due to oil companies that have signed agreements with the Kurdistan Region, but will require new contracts signed with the central government. The KRG says it is ready to resolve issues with Baghdad within the framework of the Iraqi constitution.
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