Genel Energy starts to receive Kurdistan oil payments

Middle Eastern oil & gas producer Genel Energy has started to receive government payments for oil exported from its operations in Kurdistan.

Genel, led by former BP boss Tony Hayward, said it had received a $30m gross payment from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for oil exported through the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)-Turkey pipeline from the Taq Taq field that it runs with partners.

It said it was also set to receive a $30m payment for oil from the Tawke field. Genel's net share of the payments is $24m.

The company said last month that the KRG had pledged to paying contractors in full for oil exports and would launch a regular payment mechanism in the first three months of 2015 as increasing pipeline exports help the KRG to balance its budget.

"Genel believes this is an important first step towards the normalisation of payments for oil exported through the pipeline," it said in a statement.

Oil exports by pipeline from the KRI continue to grow and recently exceeded 350,000 barrels of oil per day, although the Iraqi goverrnment, which disputes the sovereignty of the KRI, claims the exports are illegal.

Shares in Genel spurted 51p or 8% to 689.5p at 11:44 in London.