One dud oil field doesn't set a trend as Kurds keep drilling - WORLD OIL

5/10/2017

Angelina Rascouet

LONDON (Bloomberg) -- When one of the biggest crude producers in Iraqi Kurdistan downgraded reserves in March, doubts about the economic potential of the region -- a key player in the fight against Islamic State terrorism -- deepened. But evidence suggests it’s too soon to write off the emerging oil province.

The downgrade at Genel Energy Plc’s Taq Taq field, the second in little more than a year, sent its shares tumbling amid gathering anxiety over a region already struggling with weak crude prices and escalating costs to fight militants.

Yet that disappointment stands in contrast to improving prospects elsewhere in Kurdistan. DNO ASA, the area’s biggest publicly listed producer, this month doubled the number of wells planned for 2017 at its Tawke field, while competitor WesternZagros Resources Ltd. increased reserve estimates in March.

UPDATE 2-Genel targets Turkey gas deal this year to overcome oil troubles - REUTERS

LONDON Thu Mar 30, 2017 | 5:15am EDTKarolin Schaps; Editing by David Evans and Susan Thomas

• $779 mln in exploration write-offs in 2016
• Annual operating loss of $1.2 bln
• Shares recover slightly after record low on reserves cut
• Receivables fall to $253.5 million (Recasts with gas projects, adds CEO, analyst comments, share price)

Genel Energy, the oil producer chaired by former BP boss Tony Hayward, expects to strike a gas-export partnership deal with Turkey Energy Company this year, it said on Thursday, as it tries to overcome setbacks in oil exploration.

Genel slipped further into the red last year after it again downgraded reserves at its flagship oilfield and weak oil prices ate into profits, it said.

Genel Shares Hit All-Time Low As Oil Reserves Disappear - RIGZONE / REUTERS

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Esha Vaish, Justin George Varghese (Bengaluru), Dmitry Zhdannikov (London); editing by Louise Heavens

March 28 (Reuters) - Genel Energy's market value collapsed to an all-time low on Tuesday after it said for a second time that its flagship oilfield contains less crude than expected, dealing another blow to chairman Tony Hayward to rescue the indebted Kurdish producer.

Since listing in 2011 and claiming to be the largest independent UK listed firm by reserves, Genel has been hit by a string of unsuccessful exploration campaigns in Africa and reserves at its largest Iraqi Kurdistan field shrinking to just a tenth.

Investors who bought into Genel at 11 pounds ($13.8) a share in early 2014 were left with 60 pence on Tuesday as reserve cuts, an oil price collapse and Iraq's fight against Islamic State hammered the stock.

Genel drops by a record after slashing Kurdistan’s Taq Taq reserves - WORLD OIL / BLOOMBERG

By RAKTEEM KATAKEY on 2/29/2016

LONDON (Bloomberg) -- Genel Energy Plc, a UK oil producer operating in Iraq’s Kurdish region, fell by a record in London trading after cutting the reserves estimate for its largest field by almost half.

Genel dropped as much as 25% on Monday, the biggest decline since the stock started to trade in June 2011, and was down 23% at 95.75 pence as of 9 a.m. local time.

The company reduced its estimate for gross recoverable proven and probable, or 2P, reserves at the Taq Taq deposit to 356 MMbbl from 683 MMbbl as of mid-2011 and will take a $1 billion charge, it said in a statement. Genel owns a 44% stake in the field.