The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announcement late December that it planned to sell 2mn barrels of its crude oil in an international tender by end-January appears to have been premature. Remarks by Tony Hayward, CEO of key KRG upstream player Genel Energy, suggest the independent pipeline is still not fully operational and may not be till the second half of the year.

The KRG announced the line was ready to transport crude to international markets through Turkey several weeks ago. (CONTINUED - 1762 WORDS)