Developments in Hydrocarbon Exploration/Production in Kurdistan region, N. Iraq

Abstract

Kurdistan Region, N. Iraq was originally divided into 48 blocks. Starting summer 2003, some oil companies started negotiating with the Kurdistan Regional Government(KRG) to acquire some concessions, DNO was among the first to start & the first well was drilled in 2005 in Tawke field in Zakho area, then, followed by many companies. By 2010 almost all blocks were licensed. Today, there are about 57 oil companies operating in the region with much discoveries from about 100 wells drilled in the Tertiary, Cretaceous, Jurassic & Triassic horizons. The success ratio in finding hydrocarbons is about 50:50. To support the exploration, over 16,000 km and 5,000 sq km's of seismic was run all over Kurdistan, respectively. Few outstanding production flow rates have been achieved from fractures, some of which amounting to over 12,930 bopd, with fracture permeability of 200-10,000 mD. In general, Kurdistan is capable of producing over 300,000 bopd from the different explored structures. In addition, to about 300 MMscf of gas and 14,000 bpd of condensate produced feeding the power plants in Kurdistan Region.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90195 © 2014 Eastern Section Meeting, London, Ontario, Canada, September 27-30, 2014