Oil Companies’ Bet on Kurdistan Turns Sour
Oil companies that piled into Iraqi Kurdistan after Saddam Hussein’s ouster are running into trouble, unraveling the region’s promise as source of easy-to-drill oil and threatening Iraq’s production surge. Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. have been exploring for oil in Kurdistan since 2012, but have yet to develop anything. Two of the region’s leading producers are stumbling: Genel Energy PLC in […]Selina Williams writes for The Wall Street Journal:
Oil companies that piled into Iraqi Kurdistan after Saddam Hussein’s ouster are running into trouble, unraveling the region’s promise as source of easy-to-drill oil and threatening Iraq’s production surge.
Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. have been exploring for oil in Kurdistan since 2012, but have yet to develop anything. Two of the region’s leading producers are stumbling: Genel Energy PLC in February said its largest oil field had only half the oil it thought, while Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. said it is running out of money to pay its debts because of low oil prices and the lack of regular payments from the Kurdistan Regional Government for the oil it has pumped.
The regional government’s Ministry of Natural Resources declined to comment.
