Iraq discovers oil in Kurdistan

[cal04]

IRAQ has announced the discovery of oil reserves in the mountainous Kurdish region of Zakho, close to its border with Turkey. "We have discovered oil at Zakho, 470km north of Baghdad," announced Iraq's deputy oil minister Motassam Akram. He said the oil wells were drilled by a Norwegian company, DNO and added that the actual crude reserves would be known "soon".

In March, the Kurdish authorities had announced the signing of a contract with a Canadian company, Western Oil Sands, to survey the region of Garmain, 120km south of Sulaimaniyah. Most of Iraq's crude reserves are in Shiite-dominated southern regions and are exported through the two southern terminals. Exports from Iraq's northern fields around Kirkuk, just south of Kurdistan, have effectively been shut down by insurgent attacks.

The self-rule Kurdish region, which groups the provinces of Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk, has a small number of oil fields. In 2005, the country lost $US6.25 billion in oil revenues due to sustained insurgent attacks on its oil infrastructure.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18760374-1702,00.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. uh-oh

[CoffeeCat]

2. Oil in Kurdistan...ya don't say...I'm suddenly feeling a threat...

Oil in Kurdistan.

How long before Junior feels an "imminent threat" from this region? How long before "darn good intelligence" reveals that Kurdistan has WMD and is "reconstituting its nuclear program? I wonder when we'll spot those aluminum tubes and mobile-weapons labs via satellite?

Disarm now, Kurdistan! Or face the consequences!

[0007]

6. Kurdistan have WMD's and long range missles that can reach

a distance of 2000 miles. wink wink

[Spinzonner]

3. But they are anxious to generously share it

with their close friends the Iraq Sunni's and Turkey

:sarcasm:

[cantstandbush]

4. How close to Turkey? Close enough for a border dispute?

Close enough for slant drilling? Remember the Kuwaitis were slant drilling Iraqi oil fields, and act that sparked Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. Saddam claimed that the international community (UN) ignored his pleas for stopping Kuwait and thus he invaded. Something similar could happen between Turkey and the Kurds.

[Sufi Marmot]

11. They will probably end up selling a lot of it to Turkey...

...or at least it will end up being transported through Turkey. During Saddam's regime a lot of oil was smuggled into Jordan and Turkey from Iraq and we looked the other way because we wanted to maintain good relations with those countries. Kurds have been selling oil to Turks for a long time and as long as the Turkish government gets its cut I'm sure they will find a way to live with it. Oil from northern Iraq was normally supposed to go out through Turkey via Ceyhan anyway...

[Dr.Phool]

5. Our long-time best friends the Kurds!!!

What was the name of that crazy dictator who rules them again?

Adolf Ali Hitlerein. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[CoffeeCat]

8. Yes! Maybe we can instruct the Kurds to rise up against us...

...and then we won't show up. Again.

(sorry for the sarcasm. it's how I deal with this democrazy sometimes).

[MADem]

7. Hmmm, according to the Kurds, there has ALWAYS been oil in

Kurdistan. To their view, this only means that there is MORE oil in Kurdistan than originally thought.

See, the KURDISH view of Kurdistan is quite different from the old Saddam view of the autonomous region. Those Kirkuk fields mentioned in the article, if you ask any Kurd within the Iraq borders, are WITHIN their defined opinion of what they feel is historical Kurdish territory.

[NYC]

9. Why would they announce this now?

Isn't this like flashing cash in front of muggers?

[cliss]

10. Watch the sparks fly over this.

Turkey will be having a thermonuclear meltdown this afternoon. The last thing they want is for the Kurds to get any ideas.

And guess who the Turks will blame for this mess?

[Trajan]

12. Isnt Kirkuk in 'Kurdistan' ? ....

Isnt Mosul part of that ancient region as well ? ...

Kurdistan ALREADY has oil, which is a huge cause for the Kurd's to try to separate from 'rump' Iraq ....

I cannot believe, not for one minute, that international geopetrologists did NOT know already that such fields existed ....

This reeks of misdirection ....

Somebody QUICK ! ; consult Cheney's Energy Task Force notes ! ....


Oh yeah ..... I fergot .....

[Disturbed]

13. Canada and Norway not the US?

Damn! I thought that the US Oil Corps would have been there before these other nations.

[HuffleClaw]

14. i guess they'll need to build a NEW 'superbase' there

bush'll be salivating.