Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has pocketed two oil blocks in Iraq’s Kurdish region.
RIL has signed up a deal for the blocks ‘Rovi’ and ‘Sarta’ in northern Iraq with the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).
The blocks measuring 450-500 sq km have an oil-bearing structure of around 80%, and Reliance is confident of making a discovery soon. RIL paid a signing amount of $15.5-17.5 million for the two blocks.
According to the deal, the RIL’s wholly owned arm Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC would be served as an operator.
Atul Chandra, RIL’s president of international operations, stated, “We are pleased to reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government on production sharing contracts. We expect that will provide long term benefits to all the stake holders.”
Ashti Hawrami , KRG's minister for natural resources told that after signing up these agreements, atleast 20 global oil companies are now working in the region.
An AFP report from Iraq told, “The oil deals may anger Baghdad, which opposes the unilateral sell-off of crude blocks in the absence of a national oil law.”