ISTANBUL

The oil industry is a lifeline for the Kurdish Regional Government and the autonomous area will do its best to protect it, the head of Genel Energy, a major oil producer in northern Iraq, has claimed.

"The KRG understands that preventing security threats is absolutely critical for the confidence and wellbeing of the industry, which is their lifeline," said Tony Hayward on Tuesday at an international oil conference organized by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in Istanbul.

"Without the oil industry, Kurdistan doesn’t exist...So I am very confident in the capability of Kurdish security forces to insure that there is no sort of infiltration to the region," he said.

Genel Energy produces around 200,000 barrels per day (kbpd) in northern Iraq. As the major oil producer in the region Genel Energy kept its essential staff in the Kurdish oil and gas fields even at the height of summer attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -led terrorists.

Indeed, the company increased its oil production from these fields while major oil companies operating in northern Iraq, including U.S. giant Chevron, recalled its staff amid the ISIL attacks.

There is no imminent insurgency threat in KRG region, said Hayward. "Kurds have done an extraordinary job over the years preventing that kind of attack and I expect them to continue to do so," he added.

Genel Energy said that they will meet their year-end production target of 400,000 kbpd, doubling the current production rate, despite the security challenges.

- Northern Iraqi oil and natural gas

The company declared in early November that northern Iraqi natural gas will flow to Turkey via a pipeline by late 2017.

Hayward confirmed once again that "Genel in Kurdistan will be ready to provide the gas in 2017, latest in 2018" adding that "the agreement between the KRG and Turkey also requires" that the flow must start on that date.

The KRG announced in July that Irbil and Turkey had signed an 50-year energy deal, which includes the export of Kurdish oil and gas via Turkey.

"This [northern Iraqi oil exports via Turkey] clearly remains a legal dispute between the KRG and the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad, which is played out in U.S. courts" said Hayward. "The U.S. is just one market and there are lots of other markets."

"The Kurds seem to be having a lot of success in placing their oil into the global market," he added.

Oil exports from the KRG-controlled region via a pipeline through Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan encountered an international arbitration lawsuit from Iraq against Turkey in May.

Baghdad also took legal action against the exports in U.S. courts, claiming that the KRG acted against the Iraqi constitution by unilaterally selling oil to international markets.

Despite Baghdad's objection, the KRG continued its sales with 16 confirmed shipments of oil from Ceyhan to international markets.

www.aa.com.tr/en