LONDON, Dec. 2 (UPI) — Gulf Keystone Petroleum said it received payments for exports from the Kurdish government in Iraq, which it said would boost its corporate sustainability.
The company, which has headquarters in London, said it received a net payment of $12 million for its November invoice for crude oil exported from the Shaikan oil field in the Kurdish north of Iraq. Since December 2014, the company said it’s received $86 million in payments for exports.
Chief Executive Officer Jon Ferrier said payments support operations, where proven reserve increases have led to a sustainable level of production.
“We continue to drive the company forward with three principal strategic objectives: safe and reliable operations, commercial sustainability of the business achieved through regular monthly payments and addressing of the arrears, and constructive relationships with our host government, shareholders and bondholders,” he said in a statement.
Third-party assessments show proved reserves in the Shaikan reserve area at between 198 million to 306 million barrels, 55 percent more than originally estimated. Proved plus probable reserves increased by 114 percent to as much as 639 million barrels.
In early 2015, the company suspended crude oil exports through Turkey and directed sales to the local market because of a lack of payment from the Kurdish government. Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani told investors at a London energy conference his government was expected to run a budget deficit of about $12.4 million, better than 2014, but it’s “still very large.”
Talabani said national security concerns and budgetary spats with the federal government in Baghdad put strains on government coffers even when oil was priced about $100 per barrel. With those strains continuing, he said “things are pretty far from being all right at the moment.”
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