Talisman posts oil find in Iraqi Kurdistan

There are "clear indications" that oil and gas are present in the Kurdish north of Iraq after preliminary development, said Canadian company Talisman Energy. Talisman said it discovered light oil and natural gas at its Kurdamir-2 well in the semiautonomous Kurdish provinces in Iraq. The well tested at a preliminary rate of 7.3 million cubic feet of natural gas and 950 barrels of oil and condensate per day. "This is an exciting development in our understanding of this play," said Richard Herbert, executive vice president of international exploration at Talisman, in a statement. "We have tested only a portion of an upper zone but we have clear indications that there is oil here, in addition to natural gas and gas condensate." WesternZagros Resources Ltd., a partner in the development with Talisman and the Kurdistan Regional Government, expressed significant optimism about the reservoir. WesternZagros Chief Executive Officer Simon Hatfield said partners didn't know the full extent of the resource potential. The discovery, he said in a statement, "significantly improves" the oil potential of deeper sections of the Kurdamir-2 prospect. The Kurdish government and central government in Baghdad are at loggerheads over oil. The KRG claims Baghdad isn't honoring financial commitments to the Kurdish government.