Genel suspends drilling at Qara Dagh well

Genel Energy has suspended drilling operations at the QD-2 well of the Qara Dagh oil project in the Iraqi Kurdistan, due to “insurmountable technical problems”, the company said on Tuesday.

Three sidetracks had been drilled after the miner hit more complex geology above the target reservoir than expected.

Genel, which holds a 40% working stake in the project, added that the licence partners had decided that it was “impractical to continue the drilling operations from this wellbore in an attempt to reach the primary objective”.

"It is of course not the outcome that we wanted, but the geological case for Qara Dagh remains intact and attractive," said chief executive Bill Higgs.