Genel boss Hayward says group’s Kurdistan interests make it attractive to cash-rich bidder

MARKET REPORT: By GEOFF FOSTER PUBLISHED: 22:03, 25 November 2013 | UPDATED: 22:14, 25 November 2013 In the City it’s called talking your book. Tony Hayward, the former boss of BP who now runs Genel Energy, has gone on record as saying the group’s interests in Kurdistan make it look particularly attractive to a cash-rich bidder. On Friday UBS backed that up by saying Genel could be a natural takeover candidate. Buyers chased the shares 37p higher to a close of 1035.49p on the broker’s sexy comments and after last week’s Atlantic Council Energy & Economic Summit, at which attendants heard that the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq is forging ahead with deals that would let it start piping oil to world markets as early as next year. UBS said that with resources of an estimated 1.8bn barrels of oil, Genel is well positioned when exports begin. A computerised display of the FTSE 100 index Kurdistan is a rare region where multi-billion-barrel oil fields remain accessible but big international companies are under-represented. Rival broker Liberum Capital is a fan and says the key outstanding risk surrounds the payment mechanism. In other words, how will the Kurdistan government and its contractors be paid for exported oil? Genel exported 29,000 barrels per day by truck in the third quarter of 2013, for which it is being paid in full. The Kurdish energy minister said on Friday: ‘Out of the proceeds of sales the contractors will get their share of compensation. We are not planning to touch our share of the net revenue, which is net of contractors and transportation costs.’ From Turkish press (google translation) Nechirvan Barzani and Hawrami in Ankara tomorrow with the agreements. This is good timing just ahead of Sunday's Erbil Oil & Gas cwc conference.... My posts tend to get deleted so someone may want to copy and re-post later.... http://www.dunyabulteni.net/haberler/281276/necirvan-barzani-yarin-turkiyeye-geliyor === ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region is expected to finalize a deal this week to export oil and gas to Turkey as Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani arrives in Ankara. A well-placed source told Rudaw that Barzani and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will seal the final deal allowing exports of Kurdistan’s oil through a recently completed pipeline to Turkey and from there to the world market. Upon his return from Ankara, Barzani is expected to visit Baghdad and discuss the details of the agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Industry reports say that the pipeline, taking Kurdish oil to the Turkish point of Ceyhan, will initially carry 150,000 barrels a day, starting next month. Baghdad opposes any direct oil deals by the autonomous Kurdistan Region, but Barzani has reassured that the agreement between Erbil and Ankara is beneficial to all Iraqi people. Last week, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that the Iraqi people will benefit from the oil deals that are signed with the Kurdistan Region. “The Iraqi government will also get a copy of all receipts of all money kept in Turkish banks,” he said. At a press conference last week, Barzani said that Iraq must pass the oil and gas law that has been sitting in parliament for years. International observers believe that the export of oil and gas will give the Kurdistan Region greater political and economic autonomy. The region is currently dependent on 17 percent of Iraq’s federal budget to run the local government. Since 2007, Erbil and the central government have been at loggerheads over the autonomous region’s natural resources. Iraqi leaders say that Baghdad has the sole authority over the country’s oil and gas, while the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) argues that the constitution grants it the right to extract and export Kurdistan’s own oil. Kurdistan’s Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami has stressed in the past that Kurdish oil exports should not worry Baghdad because the revenues are shared with the central government. Rudaw has learned that Hawrami was in Ankara last week to arrange the final details for this week’s agreement between Barzani and Erdogan. Yildiz also said earlier this month that his government was planning to mediate between Erbil and Baghdad over outstanding energy issues. "We are trying to establish a method which we believe will counter the concerns of the central Iraqi government,” he said. “So far, the Kurdistan Regional Government and central government have not been able to establish the system they wished," Reuters quoted Yildiz as saying. “The distribution of the revenues would be carried out by Iraq; we would only hold these deposits at a Turkish state bank," the Turkish energy minister added. Kurdish leaders have complained that the central government has failed to pay the fees of foreign oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region, estimated at $5 billion. Earlier this month, Erbil and Ankara finalized a comprehensive energy package that includes the building of a second pipeline connecting the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas to the world market via Turkey. - See more at: ==================== ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region is expected to finalize a deal this week to export oil and gas to Turkey as Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani arrives in Ankara. A well-placed source told Rudaw that Barzani and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will seal the final deal allowing exports of Kurdistan’s oil through a recently completed pipeline to Turkey and from there to the world market. Upon his return from Ankara, Barzani is expected to visit Baghdad and discuss the details of the agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Industry reports say that the pipeline, taking Kurdish oil to the Turkish point of Ceyhan, will initially carry 150,000 barrels a day, starting next month. Baghdad opposes any direct oil deals by the autonomous Kurdistan Region, but Barzani has reassured that the agreement between Erbil and Ankara is beneficial to all Iraqi people. Last week, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that the Iraqi people will benefit from the oil deals that are signed with the Kurdistan Region. “The Iraqi government will also get a copy of all receipts of all money kept in Turkish banks,” he said. At a press conference last week, Barzani said that Iraq must pass the oil and gas law that has been sitting in parliament for years. International observers believe that the export of oil and gas will give the Kurdistan Region greater political and economic autonomy. The region is currently dependent on 17 percent of Iraq’s federal budget to run the local government. Since 2007, Erbil and the central government have been at loggerheads over the autonomous region’s natural resources. Iraqi leaders say that Baghdad has the sole authority over the country’s oil and gas, while the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) argues that the constitution grants it the right to extract and export Kurdistan’s own oil. Kurdistan’s Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami has stressed in the past that Kurdish oil exports should not worry Baghdad because the revenues are shared with the central government. Rudaw has learned that Hawrami was in Ankara last week to arrange the final details for this week’s agreement between Barzani and Erdogan. Yildiz also said earlier this month that his government was planning to mediate between Erbil and Baghdad over outstanding energy issues. "We are trying to establish a method which we believe will counter the concerns of the central Iraqi government,” he said. “So far, the Kurdistan Regional Government and central government have not been able to establish the system they wished," Reuters quoted Yildiz as saying. “The distribution of the revenues would be carried out by Iraq; we would only hold these deposits at a Turkish state bank," the Turkish energy minister added. Kurdish leaders have complained that the central government has failed to pay the fees of foreign oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region, estimated at $5 billion. Earlier this month, Erbil and Ankara finalized a comprehensive energy package that includes the building of a second pipeline connecting the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas to the world market via Turkey. - See more at: ============== Gulf Keystone Petroleum Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LSE:GKP) saw a price dip of 2.5p (1.5%) to 167p on the day the firm updated us on the progress of its litigation involving Excalibur Ventures. In September, the English Commercial Court gave a summary judgment dismissing Excalibur’s claims, and has now said it will hand down its full judgment on 13 December. The whole issue has delayed Gulf Keystone’s move to the LSE’s main market, and the firm now expects the move to be complete “as soon as practicable” in 2014. ===================== Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan sign energy deal November 30, 2013 - 5:48:53 am ANKARA: Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package this week that will help transform the semi-autonomous region into an oil and gas powerhouse but infuriate a central Baghdad government wary of increasing Kurdish autonomy. The move follows months of negotiations and was cited by sources close to the deal yesterday after being kept secret for two days, apparently because of its sensitivity. Baghdad says any independent Kurdish oil exports are illegal and that it has the sole authority to manage Iraqi oil. For energy-hungry Turkey, dependent on imports for almost all of its needs, exploiting Iraqi Kurdistan’s rich hydrocarbon resources will help diversify its energy supplies and reduce the country’s ballooning $60bn energy bill. Ankara’s relations with the Kurds of northern Iraq were long encumbered by Turkey’s battle with Kurdish separatists on its own soil. But in recent years trade and political relations have flourished, both sides benefiting from commerce across the frontier. The energy deal came in the early hours of a frosty Wednesday morning in Ankara, and was signed during a three-hour meeting between Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. “This is the most comprehensive energy deal in Turkey’s history,” a source close to the matter said. “But due to political sensitivities, both sides are taking their time to announce it.” Neither the Turkish prime minister’s office nor the energy ministry confirmed the signatures following Wednesday’s meeting. On Friday, the energy ministry declined to comment. Officials in the office of Iraq’s deputy prime minister for energy, Hussain Al Shahristani, were not immediately available for comment. Sources say neither the Turks nor the Kurds wanted to celebrate openly while efforts to get the Iraqi central government on board continue, even though Baghdad can do nothing to stop the process. Baghdad has long claimed the sole authority to manage Iraqi oil and says Kurdish efforts towards oil independence could lead to the break-up of Iraq. Turkey’s courtship of Kurds has also raised concern in Washington. But Turkey has repeatedly said it respects Iraq’s sensitivities over territorial integrity and that increasing oil revenues will help the whole of Iraq. Oil exports from the Kurdish region via an Iraq-Turkey pipeline had dried up due to a row over the sharing of oil revenues. The deal between Turkey and the Kurds also offers a solution to the payment problems. Crude flow in the KRG’s new pipeline is to start soon, and will link with the 40-inch-wide existing Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to be exported to world markets. As part of the deal, state-backed Turkish Energy Company (TEC), which Ankara set up to work in northern Iraq, has signed a contract to operate in 13 exploration blocks. In about half of those, it is teaming up with US oil giant ExxonMobil. ========================