Gulf Keystone Petroleum expects financial boost from controversial Kurdish oil

Production revenues from oil produced from the Kurdish north of Iraq should increase this year, Gulf Keystone Petroleum said Wednesday.

Gulf Keystone, which has headquarters in London, said it received a gross payment of $6.46 million in May for its first crude oil exports from the Shaikan reserve areas in the Kurdish north of Iraq.

"Production revenues are expected to increase significantly in [second half of] 2014," it said.

The company issued an interim financial statement Wednesday. It said gross exports by truck totaled 836,205 barrels for the first quarter of the year. Domestic sales from the Shaikan reserve area in the Kurdish north was 24,767 barrels for the quarter.

The company estimates the region's Shaikan field could hold as much as 10.5 billion barrels of oil. The semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government has said production could reach 250,000 bpd by 2018.

Exports of Kurdish oil, however, have faced delays because of the lingering stalemate between the Kurdish and central governments over who controls what in the Iraqi energy sector.