ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Norwegian oil and gas company DNO said on Thursday that it is increasing its operations in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province, drilling eight wells to increase production capacity by 20,000 barrels. 

“Two rigs, the 'DQE-51' and the DNO-owned 'Sindy', have been mobilized to drill eight wells on the license through 2026 as the Company targets a 25 percent increase in gross operated production to 100,000 barrels of oil per day,” DNO said in a statement. 

DNO owns 75 percent of the Kurdistan Region’s Tawke oil field. Following drone attacks in July on the firm’s sites in Duhok, the field’s gross production was reduced to 46,600 barrels per day, a 38 percent drop. The company also operates the Peshkabir field in Zakho. 

Production was later restored to 80,000 barrels per day. 

“Despite halting new drilling following the 2023 export pipeline closure and the drop in revenues, we are still pumping an impressive 80,000 barrels of oil per day with continuous, low-cost tweaks to the wells,” said DNO Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani. 

“We have great confidence in our ability to extract much, much more oil from the fields in this license,” he stressed. 

Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region resumed in September via Turkey’s Cehyan port, ending a 30-month halt which cost Iraq and the Region an estimated $30 billion in lost revenue.