Independent firm Kuwait Energy (KEC) last week pulled the plug on plans to borrow $100mn from the multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD). This comes less than a month after it inked an identically-sized “forward sale agreement” with trading house Vitol. The “financing facility for up to $100mn,” of which KEC drew down the first $40mn on 22 December, “will be repaid to Vitol via Kuwait Energy’s Iraqi crude entitlement.”
This refers to Block 9 in southern Iraq, where KEC began production in October 2015. Output averaged 5,300 b/d from one well in the first nine months of 2016 and doubled from October with a second well added. A third well is set to begin producing this month with output slated to ramp up to 20,000 b/d during the course of 2017, KEC says. (CONTINUED - 557 WORDS)
