Derek Brower, ERBIL: Kurdistan’s rocky emergence as an oil exporter is the dominant story in northern Iraq. But the region’s large natural gas reserves hold promise, too, offering a lucrative business that may bypass some of the central government’s objections to Kurdish oil ambitions.
Genel Energy, a Turkish firm already producing oil in Kurdistan, says it plans to bring on stream 4 billion cubic metres a year (cm/y) of gas from its fields in Kurdistan by 2015.
The production will go to Turkey’s energy-hungry market, reinforcing the growing commercial ties between Ankara and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Last year, trade between Kurdistan and Turkey amounted to $8 billion, say KRG officials, who predict such figures will mushroom as the region’s oil and gas business, still in its infancy, takes off.
The KRG thinks oil production — hindered for...