Oil companies are flooding to Erbil, capital of semi autonomous state-Kurdistan- of Northern Iraq, to secure exploration and drilling contracts. The prize- 50bn barrels of oil or 40% of Iraq’s proved resources. Kurdistan signed a drilling contracts deal with US super major, ExxonMobil last month, to boost its oil output from 150,000 bpd to 1m bpd. Investors already established in the region can set to reap early rewards. Shares of the like of DNO, Gulf Keystone and Petroceltic initially jumped 30% on the Exxon news.
However one needs to tread carefully as therein lies Iraq’s sensitivity. Exxon’s agreement has angered Baghdad, which regards such deals as illegal and can cancel its existing contracts with Exxon. 
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