Kurds pay out for oil exports

British energy company Genel Energy became the latest company working in the Kurdish north of Iraq to announce government payments for exports.

Genel, which operates in the Taq Taq oil field in northern Iraq, announced it received a $16.5 million payment from the Kurdish government for exports through a pipeline running north to Turkey.

The Kurdish government in Iraq in early August announced it would allocate some of its revenue to international oil companies on a monthly basis to help cover their expenses.

The Kurdish north hosts some of the larger oil fields in Iraq and while the Kurdish government said crude oil exports are its principle source of revenue, it said it recognized energy companies operating in the region face difficulties moving forward without their share.

Net production for Genel for the first half of 2015 was an average 88,800 barrels per day, a 41 percent increase year-on-year. Full-year production guidance for 2015 is between 90,000 and 100,000 bpd.

Genel Chief Executive Murat Ozgul said regular payments for oil have been a "turning point" for the company in the latter half of 2015.

British energy company Gulf Keystone Petroleum, one of the key players in the Kurdish oil sector, in early 2015 suspended crude oil exports through Turkey and directed sales to the local market briefly because of a lack of payment from the Kurdish government. It announced last week the receipt of payment for exports.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has cautioned that the federal government has yet to meet its payment obligations, to which it responded with unilateral exports through Turkey to help pay government and military salaries.

The Kurdish government in early 2015 reached a deal with Baghdad to export some of its crude oil in exchange for a portion of overall oil revenue. The KRG under the terms of the agreement funnels 250,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad and agrees to use the federal State Oil Marketing Organization for marketing.