Norway-based upstream producer DNO said today it will restart drilling at its Tawke licence in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, with the aim of adding 25pc to production there.
Drilling at Tawke, which includes the Tawke and Peshkabir fields, has been paused for more than two years because of the 2023 closure of the Iraq–Turkey export pipeline (ITP) and a sharp fall in payments from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). DNO, which holds a 75pc operated stake in Tawke, said it has maintained production at around 80,000 b/d through low-cost optimisation work.
DNO said it has mobilised two rigs to drill eight wells in 2026, with the aim to increase gross operated output by 25pc to around 100,000 b/d. This is "contingent on stable offtake routes and continued KRG payments," DNO said.
DNO was the first western firm to enter Iraqi Kurdistan in 2004 and it is the region's largest international operator. The company has expanded its portfolio in parallel in Norway, where it expects to exit 2025 with around 90,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) of net production, it said today.
Crude supplies from northern Iraq to Turkey's Ceyhan export terminal restarted on 27 September, following a deal between Iraq's federal government, the KRG and international oil companies operating in the semi-autonomous region.
The relationship between Erbil and Baghdad remains testy. Iraq's new needs to select a speaker and a president, who will task the largest bloc with forming a cabinet. The formation of a new cabinet, if not led by caretaker prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, could jeopardise the export deal between Erbil and Baghdad.
