TOGY Kurdistan Region of Iraq 2014 Launch

Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The world’s leading energy companies joined H.E. Dr. Ashti Hawrami, The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Minister of Natural Resources, for the launch of The Oil & Gas Year Kurdistan Region of Iraq 2014 energy report.

Minister Hawrami delivered the keynote address at the event attended by lead sponsor ExxonMobil and co-sponsors Chevron, Genel Energy, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, WesternZagros, UB Group and KAR at The Dorchester Hotel in London.

Attendees also raised money to support the hundreds of thousands refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq and Syria and seeking a safe haven in the Kurdistan Region. Proceeds went to Rise and Kurdistan Emergency Appeal.

Minister Hawrami was also presented with the Oil Minister of the Decade award in recognition of his leadership in bringing the Kurdistan Region of Iraq into the spotlight, and attracting key names in the oil and gas industry and working tirelessly to make the Kurdistan Region a recognised industry success.

Produced in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the fifth edition of the report presents a premier analysis of the region’s energy industry.

2014 was a transformative year for the Kurdistan Region. With the first independent pipeline exports through a soon-to-be 1-million-barrels of oil per day pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and a ramp-up of production from recently discovered giant oilfields, the region maintains its status as the last great onshore exploration and production frontier.

Some of the region’s recent discoveries built-up production in 2014, including the Taq Taq and Tawke oilfields, with respective production capacities nearing 150,000 and 200,000 bopd, and the giant Shaikan field, which is expected to reach 100,000 bopd in phase one of its development plan.

Increasing production from these fields and increasing production at new licences under development, including Atrush, Akri-Bijeel, Hawler, Garmian, Ain Sifni, and Sarsang, will help reach a production target of 1,000,000 bopd by early 2016.

The report takes a detailed look at the landmark strategic energy alliance between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Turkey, and the importance of this partnership in facilitating the flow of oil and gas to international markets.

In less than a decade, the Kurdistan Region has gone from a high-risk gamble to a global exploration powerhouse, ranking amongst the top-10 oil reserves in the world. The Oil & Gas Year’s 2014 edition also features a special commemorative chapter detailing the KRG’s success in developing its oil sector in the decade since the spudding of the Region’s first oil well, Tawke-1, following the fall of the Ba’athist regime in Iraq.