Norway's DNO resumes Kurdistan oilfield output after drone strikes

DNO, a Norwegian oil company, announced on Thursday that it had restarted production of its Tawke field and Peshkabir field in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdistan region. Production was halted in this area last month because of drone strikes.

In morning trading, shares of the company that also increased its dividend payment Thursday surged by 11.6%.

Local energy officials said last month that repeated drone attacks on oilfields within the Kurdish Region reduced crude production by DNO and others from 140,000 to 150.000 barrels per day.

DNO released a statement with its earnings report for the second quarter. "On a trial basis, DNO resumed production at Tawke early in August. Peshkabir restarted later that month," DNO stated.

The attack on surface processing equipment in Peshkabir, and the oil storage tank in Tawke was noted. However, no injuries were reported.

The company said that while months of repairs are still in progress, they have increased gross production to test levels, which is 55,000 barrels equivalent per day (boepd), roughly evenly divided between the Tawke field and the Peshkabir field.

In the first quarter, the company's Kurdish production averaged 82.100 boepd.

The company, who holds 75% of the Tawke licence, where Tawke and Peshkabir are located, stated that it wanted to increase production to 100,000 boepd over the long-term in Kurdistan. Genel Energy, its partner, holds the remaining 25 percent.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (another Kurdish oil company) announced on August 13, that it has resumed production in the Shaikan Oilfield, which had also been hit by drones.

DNO has increased its quarterly dividend from $30 million to 0.375 Norwegian crowns or 35 million dollars. Reporting by Nerijus Adomiaitis, Editing by Terje Solsvik and Edwina G Gibbs

(source: Reuters)