Black Diamond Oil Company and Rezhwan Company have signed a joint venture to operate a new oil refinery in Kurdistan Region of Iraq
The refinery will start processing Taq Taq crude oil in April-end with 4,247.5 cubic metres being refined initially on a daily basis, the companies said.
Situated near Erbil, the refinery’s daily output would increase to 8,495 cubic metres per day starting in May 2014, they added.
Black Diamond Oil Company said that it will purchase the crude directly from the Taq Taq field, which is the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s largest oil producing field.
According to Genel Energy, Taq Taq’s proven and probable reserves total 607mn barrels of the currently estimated 1.7bn barrels of oil in place, and the field is delivering 80,000 bpd to 100,000 bpd.
Meanwhile, the TT-22 Taq Taq Deep exploratory well that targets a gross un-risked resource of 250mn barrels of oil equivalent in Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs is due for spud any time. The projected total depth of the oilwell is 5,400 metres.
The field is covered by good quality 3D seismic data, but sectors to the northwest and southeast are undrilled or sparsely drilled, Genel Energy added.
Black Diamond Oil Company work force reportedly includes trucks moving the crude oil from the Taq Taq field to its refinery in Erbil for the reselling of the refined product petroleum daily.
Black Diamond Oil Company investment partners are expected to keep 70.5 per cent of the gross profits earning US$180,000 per day, while Rezhwan Company will keep the difference after expenses.
Ronald Flynn, founder of Black Diamond Oil Company, said, “I believe we are in good company with heavyweights like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Total working very close to where our refinery is in Erbil. Moreover I am confident we will be able to continue refining crude oil into gasoline for a long time.”
According to OPEC, Kurdistan Region of Iraq accounts for 43.7bn barrels of proven oil reserves, 25.5bn more barrels of unproven reserves and between three trillion and six trillion cubic metres of gas.
