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Head NOC engineer: Kurdistan Region could benefit from exports through SOMO

PM:01:28:31/03/2023

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SULAIMANI — Farhad Hamza, the head engineer at North Oil Company (NOC), said the Kurdistan Region has no other option except to sell oil through Iraq’s official State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO).

During an appearance on NRT’s Taw u Twe program on Thursday (March 30), Hamza said Iraq’s complaint against the Kurdistan Region’s independent oil contracts was filed years ago but was ignored due to the battle against the Islamic State and later international support for the Region in 2019.

The Iraqi government won an arbitration case against Turkey last week over the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) oil pipeline exports through Turkey.

Hamza said the decision does not adversely affect the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its citizens but could actually be beneficial if the Iraqi government sends the Region’s budget share properly.

"We have seen the consequences of the independent economy [in the Kurdistan Region],” he said.

He stated the KRG has to reach an agreement with SOMO on a mechanism for oil sales.

 

Oil firms operating in the Region

Hamza said the KRG had done poorly with oil contracts by bringing small, inexperienced oil companies that had been unsuccessful internationally to the Region.

In his view, the companies benefitted themselves but harmed the oilfields and the KRG’s economy.

He claimed an oilfield in Taqtaq, with oil known of a unique quality known as "black champagne,” had previously produced 160,000 barrels per day and was now only producing 4,000.

(NRT Digital Media)