Rosneft enters Kurdistan pipeline project

VERONA, October 20, 2017 – Rosneft has a signed a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government to enter an infrastructure project concerning the region’s oil export pipeline, the company said early on Friday.

The deal, signed on the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona, will see Rosneft operate the pipeline project with a 60% stake, while current pipeline operator KAR Group will retain the remaining 40%.

“The entry into this project helps to achieve a number of Rosneft’s strategic objectives and will enable Rosneft to implement an integrated model of development across the entire value chain from production to transportation and export of hydrocarbons to end customers including supplies to the Company’s refineries in Germany,” CEO Igor Sechin said in a press release.

In a previous statement released Wednesday, the company referenced an expected increase of the pipeline system’s capacity from 700,000 bpd to 950,000 bpd. However, plans for the expansion have not yet been confirmed.

In mid-September, Rosneft had announced an investment plan reportedly worth more than USD 1 billion that would see the company build a gas export pipeline in the Kurdistan Region with a capacity of up to 30 bcm (1.06 tcf) per year. The announcement mentioned a second pipeline project in the works, presumably a reference to the Kurdistan Crude Export Pipeline expansion.

KAR Group is also the operator of the Bai Hassan and Avana fields, which were taken over by Iraqi federal forces in an operation that began Monday. The new project is a signal that the group will continue to play a key role in the Kurdistan Region’s oil market.

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