Norway's DNO resumes Kurdistan oilfield output after drone strikes

DNO Resumes Oil Production in Kurdistan Following Drone Attacks

OSLO (Reuters) -Norway's DNO said on Thursday it has restarted oil production at its Tawke and Peshkabir fields in Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, which were halted last month due to drone strikes in the area.

Shares of the company, which also raised its dividend payment on Thursday, surged 11.6% in morning trade.

Repeated drone attacks on oilfields in the Kurdish region slashed crude output from DNO and other companies by some 140,000 to 150,000 barrels per day, local energy officials told Reuters last month.

"On a test basis, DNO restarted production from Tawke in early August, while Peshkabir was restarted later in the month," DNO said in a statement along with its second-quarter earnings report.

It noted that the attacks had hit surface processing equipment at Peshkabir and an oil storage tank at Tawke, adding that no people were injured.

While months-long repairs were still pending, the company has ramped up gross production on a test basis to 55,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), about evenly split between the Tawke and Peshkabir fields, it said.

The company's Kurdish output had averaged 82,100 boepd in the first quarter.

The company, which holds a 75% stake in the Tawke license, where the Tawke and Peshkabir fields are, said it aimed to increase production in the Kurdistan region to 100,000 boepd in the long term. Its partner Genel Energy holds the remaining 25%.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum, another Kurdish oil producer, said on August 13 that it had resumed production at the Shaikan oilfield, which was also hit by drone attacks.

DNO increased its quarterly dividend to 0.375 Norwegian crowns per share, or $35 million, to be paid in September, up from $30 million in the previous quarter.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Edwina Gibbs)