DNO receives $20.11 mln payments for Iraqi Kurdistan oil exports

for March crude oil deliveries to the export and local markets from the Tawke field under the payment arrangement announced earlier this year, DNO said in a statement.

The funds, to be shared pro-rata by DNO and partner Genel Energy plc, include USD 16.87 million toward the monthly entitlement for March deliveries and USD 3.24 million toward the recovery of outstanding receivables for past deliveries.

Tawke deliveries for export in March averaged 74,546 barrels of oil per day (bopd), up from an average of 66,427 bopd in February. Export deliveries in March were impacted by the extended closure of the Turkish segment of the export pipeline during the first half of the month.

Tawke deliveries to the local market in March averaged 4,446 bopd, down from 6,697 bopd a month earlier. For purposes of pricing and entitlement payments, March deliveries to the local market were treated as deemed exports.

DNO said last February it will raise investment, increase production at its prize Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. The firm plans to double its investment to $100 million this year, most of it in the billion-barrel field, to raise the field’s output to 135,000 barrels of oil per day by mid-2016 from 120,000 bopd now.

During April to date, Tawke deliveries for export have averaged 117,256 bopd.

The KRG, which owes oil companies billion of dollars, has been making ad-hoc payments since last September to exporters that had previously gone unpaid for months.

DNO ASA is a Norwegian oil and gas operator focused on the Middle East and North Africa. Founded in 1971 and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, the company holds stakes in onshore and offshore licenses at various stages of exploration, development and production in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Somaliland.