RTRS:DNO resumes local Iraqi oil sales amid export woes
Norwegian producer finds Iraqi buyers as pipeline exports fall
* DNO Kurdish exports cut to 25,000/day due technical glitches
* Export revenue feud continues between Baghdad, Kurdish region
OSLO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil company DNO said it had diverted a third of its Iraqi crude production to domestic markets to improve "the stability of its revenue stream" amid a spate of export troubles.
Citing technical problems in its export pipeline, the company said on Monday it had found three buyers for a total of 675,000 barrels from its Tawke and Bastora fields at prices between $50 and $55 per barrel.
The announcement came after Iraq's deputy prime minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, repeated his rejection of export contracts that DNO and some 40 other firms have signed with Kurdistan's regional government without Baghdad's approval.
The long-running feud between the central government, which says it controls all Iraqi oil, and Kurdish officials who demand regional control has resulted in a throttling of payments to DNO and other producers in Iraq's northern region.
Exports from DNO's premier Tawke field reached 70,000 barrels per day earlier this year before a spate of technical glitches restricted the flow, the company has said. Exports now average 25,000 barrels a day, it said on Monday.
"We are very pleased to have been given the green light by the authorities to commence cash sales to the local market and at a price twice last year's levels," DNO Chief Executive Helge Eide said in a statement.
"At current rates, DNO's local sales bring another $15 million in payments to the company on a monthly basis which allows our operations to be self funding across our portfolio."
DNO first sold Tawke oil on the local market at sharply reduced prices in 2009 and 2010, after the central government refused to hand over revenue from an initial flow of DNO exports.
Those local sales continued until earlier this year, when exports resumed amid signs of a thaw in the Iraqi feud and partial compensation to DNO.
DNO said the new round of deliveries to local buyers had averaged 10,000 barrels a day, with payments received in advance and accruing fully to DNO's account. (Reporting By Walter Gibbs; Editing by David Holmes)
