DNO ramps up Kurdistan drilling campaign after surpassing 500 MMbbl at Tawke license

DNO ASA plans to restart drilling operations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq after surpassing 500 MMbbl of cumulative production from the Tawke license, the company announced on 11 December. The milestone marks continued strong performance from one of the region’s most productive assets, operated by DNO with a 75% working interest. 

Following a two-and-a-half-year pause in new drilling activity triggered by the 2023 export pipeline shutdown, DNO will spud a new production well next week targeting the shallow Jeribe reservoir in the Tawke field. The company has mobilized two rigs—the DQE-51 and its own Sindy rig—to execute a program of eight wells through 2026. The campaign is designed to lift gross operated output by 25% to around 100,000 bpd.

Despite the halt in drilling, DNO has maintained production of roughly 80,000 bpd through incremental well optimization. Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said the company’s long experience in the region gives it confidence in its ability to unlock further resources.

“Given two decades of experience working these complex reservoirs, we have great confidence in our ability to extract much, much more oil from the fields in this license,” he said, emphasizing that DNO “holds the key to Tawke.”

The Tawke license includes the Tawke and Peshkabir fields, two of Kurdistan’s largest operated by an international oil company. DNO was the first Western operator to enter Kurdistan in 2004, helping catalyze the region’s modern oil industry. The company has since expanded its portfolio, including significant growth on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, where it expects to exit 2025 with net production of 90,000 boe/d.

DNO described Kurdistan and Norway as its two “home turfs,” noting that the company is now among the most active players on the NCS as operators seek to accelerate project timelines from discovery to first production.