Norway's DNO Eyes Higher Production in Kurdistan

Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO ASA said on Monday it had put a fourth well into production at the Peshkabir Oilfield in Iraq’s northern region of Kurdistan, exceeding its 30,000-bpd target for oil production from the field.

“At around 35,000 bopd, Peshkabir has now leapfrogged into second place after Tawke among the Kurdistan fields operated by the international oil companies,” Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, DNO’s executive chairman, said in the company statement, UPI reported.

“We are setting our sights on higher production and accelerating field development,” the manager added.

The Norway-based oil and gas company has been drilling two other oil wells in the Peshkabir Oilfield and expects production testing at those two new wells to start next month.

DNO has boosted its oil production at the Tawke license in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region by two-thirds to 25,000 bpd, the company said earlier this month, after completing a well-testing program at Peshkabir.

The Peshkabir-4 well has started to produce at a rate of 10,000 bpd, the Norwegian company said earlier in July, adding that the Peshkabir-5 well, completed last month, was undergoing final testing. DNO plans to bring the fifth well online in August and expects to exceed its 2018 summer production target of 30,000 bpd at Peshkabir.

“And we expect Peshkabir to continue to surprise to the upside,” Mossavar-Rahmani said on July 17.

DNO and its minority-interest partner Genel Energy plc hold the Tawke license, which contains the Tawke and Peshkabir fields. Together, oil production from the two fields has averaged 106,000 bpd year-to-date.

Norwegian oil and gas operator announced in its 2017 results release in March that it planned to bolster production in Kurdistan, with Mossavar-Rahmani saying, “We are committed this year to continue to outdrill, outproduce and outperform all other international companies in Kurdistan–combined.”