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Oslo: Norwegian independent oil producer DNO is "quite confident" it will get a licence to export oil from Iraq this year, chief executive Helge Eide said yesterday.
DNO is the first western oil company to begin new exploration and production in post-war Iraq under a deal with the Kurdish regional authorities in the north.
"We are not involved directly with that process but there have been quite a number of positive signals which makes us quite confident that it will happen within this year," Eide said.
Eide said that after gaining an export permit, DNO could quickly boost its oil production in Iraq to about 30,000 barrels per day from nearly 7,000 barrels on average in the first two months of 2008.
"We have 90,000-100,000 in well capacity [per day] and the export facility can take 50,000 barrels. Immediately when we have exports in place, we can ramp up to 50,000 barrels - and we get 60 per cent of that," he said.
The 60 per cent is DNO's working interest in the Tawke field in the Kurdish region of north Iraq.
DNO repeated that its total untested resource potential in Iraq amounted to 1.5-2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, including 0.6-1.0 billion for DNO under production sharing agreements with regional authorities in Kurdistan.
Last month DNO revised its production sharing agreement with the Kurdish authorities, effectively cutting its stake. The company said the revision was a "step in the direction of exports" as the Kurdish authorities are negotiating with Baghdad access to Iraq's northern pipeline into Turkey.
So far, DNO has sold its Iraqi oil on the local market at local prices.
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