Heritage Oil Operations in Iraq

=History= Heritage's activity in Iraq began in 2007, when it became one of the first companies to sign a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

=Activities and Contracts=

Miran (Kurdistan)
Heritage entered into a PSC with the KRG on 2 October 2007 for the Miran Block in the south of Kurdistan. Heritage announced in April 2009 that Anglo-Turkish Genel Energy had entered the Miran Block as a third party participant, holding a 25% participating interest in the license while Heritage, the operator, held the remaining 75%.

The Miran Block contains two large structures, Miran West and Miran East. Miran West is believed to be one of the larger structures in Kurdistan, with an estimated areal extent of about 200 square kilometers. Heritage announced in early 2011 the discovery of a large gas field with the Miran West-2 well which, containing up to 12.3 trillion cubic feet of gas, it believes to be the largest gas field to be discovered in Iraq in the last 30 years. The company has a 75% working interest in the Miran Block, though the KRG have a back-in right (whereby the KRG can choose to participate in a project once the contractor has recovered their costs). If exercised, this could reduce Heritage’s interest to 56.25%. The first export production from the Miran Block is targeted for 2015 using planned regional infrastructure, according to the company's 2010 Annual Report.

However in August 2012 Heritage moved to sell some of its assets in the Kurdistan region in order to free up finances for a project in Nigeria. Heritage is due to receive US $156 million for transferring its 26 percent interest in the Miran gas field to Genel Energy, as well as a further $294 million loan which it can redeem through the transfer of its remaining 49 percent interest.

=References=