Red billioner settles in Northern Iraq
Koksal signed an agreement with Iraq Kurdistan Patriots Union Leader Celal Talabani in January 14, 2003, buying 40-year rights to conduct exploration, extraction, transference and sales efforts in the Kerkuk oil fields, which consist of an area of 6,800 square kilometres.
The Talabani administration will retain fifty-one percent of the local oil reserves, with Koksal acquiring the remaining 49 percent.
Following his commercial connection with Russia prior to its collapse, Koksal became known to the public as the "Red billionaire" in the early1990s when he became owner of the Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan oil wells. Koksal’s firm was the first Turkish construction company to enter Russia prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Details of the agreement permitting Koksal to search for and extract oil under IKYB control were provided by Koksal during an interview with Zaman a year ago when Koksal came to Ankara to meet with Talabani.
The January agreement also resulted in the Pet Oil holdings in the Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan oil fields passing to General Energy, another Turkish firm. Pet Oil acquired the rights to the oil fields in the Kirkuk areas of Taktak, Enzal, Zimar and Singal. Koksal pointing out that he struck the agreement Talabani only after consulting with the General Staff Administration, and the Foreign Affairs and Energy ministries, pointing out that there had been no American or British objections to the deal.
Koksal said: "One hundred wells in that area [Kirkuk] were abandoned 50 years ago because of their small size and the discovery of new reserves. That area may be considered minor to the Americans and British in regard to Iraqi oil, but we consider it very large." The area purchased by Pet Oil has the capacity of producing 3,500 barrels daily. Koksal pointed out that his firm had conducted explorations in other areas, as well, and that his team hoped to discover new reserves by the end of July.
Pet Oil will ship the Iraqi oil via tanker trucks to Turkish refineries. Pending agreement by the new Baghdad administration, oil will also be supplied via pipelines to the international markets.
