MESOPOTAMIA NEWS IRAQ : NOT GEORGE BUSH OR U.S. = PUTIN GRABS KURDISH OIL !

Gazprom increases oil production in tough Garmian fields

By Rudaw 4 hours ago  16 June 2018 –  Workers at a Gazprom Neft facility in the Kurdistan Region. ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Despite great geological challenges at Kurdistan’s Garmian oil field, Gazprom Neft announced it has intensified efforts reaching more than 23,000 barrels of extraction per day.

The Russian oil giant announced on Friday that because of Garmian’s unique high reservoir pressure and temperature, it necessitated the use of new technologies to reach production of 1 million tonnes of oil.

Gazprom first began working at the Garmian block in 2011. Baghdad challenged the independent exportation of oil from the Kurdistan Region, but in 2015 the first commercial shipments began.Gazprom Neft has two projects in the Kurdistan Region:  Shakal and Garmian. Initially, Canada’s WesternZagros implemented them jointly with Gazprom, with each having a 40-percent share. Since February 2016, Gazprom has been the operator of the Garmian project. Authorities in the Kurdistan Region have a 20-percent share.
Gazprom will make a decision on further developments in Shakal by the end of 2018.
A third in Halabja will not go forward, according to Gazprom, because of seismic concerns which make project risks too high. After the loss of oil-rich Kirkuk, KRG’s revenues were nearly halved. The Kurdistan Region’s share of the Budget from Baghdad is 12.67 percent, which KRG officials deem insufficient. www.mesop.de