BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Turkey’s Genel Enerji President Mehmet Sepil thinks the opportunities in northern Iraq are the best they have been since Ottoman times and does not believe that the recent political tension between Baghdad, Arbil and Ankara will affect efforts to explore and produce oil and gas in the region, hurriyet daily reported on Monday.

 

 

“Oil will find its way,” Sepil said.
“When the world is so energy hungry and when the prices of energy resources are so high, it is impossible for the oil not to be unearthed for political reasons.
It’s only a matter of time … The world does not have the luxury of leaving oil and gas underground.”

 

 

“When we were working in the Taq Taq oil field, we could see Americans bombing Kirkuk.
But the only risk is not political - there is also the risk of not finding oil.
We call this risk mitigation.
The political risks were high, but the chances of finding oil were very high.”

 

 

“Why are we calling this place the last frontier for oil exploration onshore? The hit rate the possibility of finding oil] is 20 percent on average in the world.
Here it may be 70 percent.
Yes, perhaps the political risks are higher, but so are the chances of finding oil,” he said.

 

 

SH (TS)/SR