US energy company Chevron to resume drilling in Kurdistan
“Chevron will resume oil and gas drilling operations at the Sarta 3 block in Iraqi Kurdistan “in the near future”, Bloomberg revealed after seeing a statement from Chevron on Tuesday.
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 as well with an 80 percent PSC, which is about 28 kilometers south of the provincial capital city of Sulaimani.
"We are taking all necessary steps to remobilize people and equipment to ensure we are well-prepared to resume operations" in the autonomous region, a Chevron spokeswoman told US-based Fox News Business on Tuesday.
Chevron 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 or Kurdistani areas claimed by Erbil and Baghdad.
The KRG says its revenues have been slashed nearly in half after the loss of the 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.
There was no immediate statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources.