KurdistanObserver.com

Foreign Firms Find Oil In Zakho-Kurdistan: Official

Jan 31, 2006
By Salem Arif   Azzaman

Foreign firms have reached "very good results" in their exploration for oil deposits in Kurdistan (Iraq) the border town of Zakho, said Mohammed Zaibari, head of the northern oil distribution company.

Zaibari, speaking in a local television interview, did not name the foreign firms but said they were exploring for oil in Kurdistan (northern Iraq)  under an agreement with the central government.

“The preliminary explorations have shown very good results,” he said.

Zakho is a town in the Kurdish north bordering Turkey.

Zaibari did not give the names of the foreign firms involved in the exploration.

But said: “The explorations in Zakho provide conclusive evidence that Iraqi crude reserves are is immense indeed.”

Proven Iraqi reserves are estimated at 14 billion barrels, the world’s second largest after those of Saudi Arabia.

Zaibari is in charge of fuel distribution in the three Kurdish provinces of Dahouk, Sulaimaniyah and Erbil as well as Kurdish city of Kirkuk and Nineveh (Mosul).

He claimed that the five provinces currently suffer from no fuel shortages.

He said his company’s policy of rationing the distribution particularly of gasoline has slashed what he called "waste" in the three Kurdish provinces by 40%.

Despite its massive oil wealth, Iraq currently imports fuel from Turkey and Zaibari said fuel bills due to Turkey, and still unpaid by the government, were worth up to $1 billion.