Genel starts drilling on Chia Surkh block in Iraq

published 8 October 2012

Genel Energy, the oil and gas giant led by former-BP frontman Tony Hayward, has said the Chia Surkh 10 exploration well, the first to be drilled on the Chia Surkh block, started drilling on Sunday, October 7th.

The block, in which Genel holds a 60% operating interest, covers an area of 984 square kilometres in the southern part of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and has prospective resources estimated at more than 300m barrels of oil equivalent.

The well is set to be drilled to around 2,500 metres, with the first results expected in the first quarter of next year.