DNO says Kurdistan output rose by over 30,000 bpd in Q4 2025

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Norwegian oil and gas company DNO said on Monday that its oil production in the Kurdistan Region surged by more than 30,000 barrels per day in the final quarter of last year, driven by higher output from the Tawke field.

 

In an announcement released on Monday, DNO said it produced 77,268 barrels per day (bpd) in Kurdistan in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 46,572 bpd in the third quarter, an increase of 30,696 bpd quarter-on-quarter.

 

Production also rose on an annual basis. DNO produced 74,163 bpd in the Kurdistan Region in the fourth quarter of 2024, meaning output increased both compared to the previous quarter and the same period a year earlier.

 

The company said it recovered 20,019 bpd as its financial entitlement share from Kurdistan during the quarter. 

 

“DNO’s share of oil from the Tawke license during the quarter was sold to local buyers,” the company said, adding that “All payments were made to the Company in advance of oil deliveries.”

 

DNO also said it is scheduled to publish its full operating and interim financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025 on February 5.

 

On Thursday, the Norwegian giant said that “Kurdistan is part of DNO's DNA.” This while Erbil’s natural resources minister added that delays in forming Iraq’s next government would not disrupt Kurdish oil exports, which resumed under a September deal set to be automatically extended if a stalemate unfolds.

 

Speaking on the sidelines of an event celebrating half a billion barrels produced from the Region since 2004, DNO Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said, “We want to remain very involved in Kurdistan,” adding, “Kurdistan is part of DNO's DNA now and the company is identified with Kurdistan.”

 

He further praised the “incredible partnership” with Kurdistan, highlighting its “contractual stability” and investor-friendly environment despite being at the heart of a volatile region.

 

DNO, Norway’s oldest oil company, is the leading international operator in the Kurdistan Region and a pioneer of the local energy industry. The company manages the prolific Tawke and Peshkhabur fields in the northern Duhok province, which have long been among the Region’s most productive assets.

 

Oil fields across the Kurdistan Region have repeatedly come under drone and missile attacks, a trend that intensified markedly throughout 2025 and raised serious concerns over the security of energy infrastructure.

 

Despite these challenges, DNO announced in late December that it would be “revving up” operations in Kurdistan, including the resumption of drilling at its flagship Tawke license in Duhok province.

 

The move followed a tripartite agreement reached in late September between Erbil, Baghdad, and international oil companies (IOCs), which paved the way for the resumption of oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.

 

Kurdish oil exports had been halted since March 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration ruling in favor of Baghdad found that Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to export oil independently beginning in 2014.

 

At the DNO event on Wednesday, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Acting Minister of Natural Resources Kamal Mohammed told Rudaw that “some 22 million barrels of [Kurdish] oil have been delivered to [the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization] SOMO” for export under the agreement. He added that “so far, nearly $214 million has been paid to [international oil] companies [IOCs] for oil production and transportation costs.”