KRG Eyes Major Boost As Exxon/DNO Firm Up Baeshiqa Light Oil Find

22 Nov 2019 Issue: 62 / 47 By: Waylon Fairbanks

DNO and Exxon are progressing appraisal of a sizable discovery on the disputed Baeshiqa license. It’s still early days, but the field’s light oil reserves could also help boost the KRG’s increasingly heavy export grade.

Norway’s DNO announced this week that as a result of latest appraisal drilling on the Baeshiqa license it had issued “a notice of discovery” for “light oil and sour gas” to the KRG. Located in territory disputed by Baghdad and the KRG, DNO agreed in 2017 to take half of ExxonMobil’s 64% stake in Baeshiqa and obtain operatorship (MEES, 8 September 2017).

The current holdings are DNO (32%op), ExxonMobil (32%), and Turkish state partner TEC (16%), while the KRG holds the remaining 20%. Based on earlier drilling, Exxon and TEC previously estimated oil-in-place at 580mn barrels, before operations were halted in 2014 amid the Islamic State’s offensive. DNO’s latest announcement does not mention reserves or flow rates. (CONTINUED - 703 WORDS)