OSLO (Thomson Financial) - Norwegian oil producer and explorer DNO ASA said new estimates for its Tawke field in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, more than doubled estimated reserves.
It said that gross recoverable oil reserves ranged from 150 mln barrels to 370 mln barrels with a current expected value of 230 mln barrels.
Additionally, gross volumes of oil in place ranged from 0.9 bln barrels to 1.9 bln barrels with a current expected value of 1.3 bln barrels.
The group said improved oil recovery methods had not been applied for in these estimates, which could contribute to a 'substantial upgrade' to these reserve figures.
'We are pleased to note that this update more than doubles the estimated reserves in Takw,' said DNO managing director Helge Eide.
'The data gathered to date ... have confirmed the high quality of the Tawke field.'
DNO said that since the Tawke 1 discovery well was drilled on the Tawke structure in spring 2006 a substantial amount of additional geological and reservoir information had become available.
'The observations and analysis to date confirm that the Tawke structure is of substantial size, with good pressure communication across the field,' DNO said. patrick.mcloughlin@thomson.com pm/ejp COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.