KRG Ministry of Natural Resources

Exposed: NRT’s Falsification & Propaganda Over KRG Oil Exports

The falsification and deliberate misrepresentation about KRG’s oil production and export figures by the NRT news network in recent days are further exposed by the publication by MNR of three letters that clearly demonstrate why NRT’s reporting on oil and gas cannot be trusted.

On November 2^nd, NRT made the first of a series of baseless allegations claiming that the KRG’s reported oil and export production figures were wrong and that, according to NRT, the KRG was producing much more than it officially reported and therefore oil revenue was going missing.

In just one example, NRT produced falsified figures to claim that the oil fields at Tawke and Taq Taq were exporting 300,000 barrels of oil per day. Following their highly exaggerated claims, Genel Energy, a publicly-listed IOC with interests in both Tawke and Taq Taq fields, politely wrote to NRT pointing out their error (click here to see attachment 1), supplying them with the correct figures for the two fields, and requesting that NRT “review and correct its data” on its website and TV channel. Genel informed NRT that “all the accurate and public information regarding the production levels could be found in Genel Energy’s website.”

NRT, however, merely reported receiving the letter, but the network neither admitted its falsification of Tawke and Taq Taq production figures by almost 90 percent, nor corrected its original report of November 2^nd.

Despite the letter from Genel Energy, on November 6^th, NRT continued with its propaganda campaign and made further distortions about production figures and revenues, by claiming it had obtained “a secret document” which it was publishing for the first time and which according to NRT proved KRG corruption. The network further claimed that it had obtained inside information about KRG oil production from an advisor who worked for the MNR and KRG. 

In reality, the so-called secret document published by NRT was neither secret, nor did it prove any corruption. It was an indicative map produced by Western Zagros (WZ), an international oil company (IOC) working in the Kurdistan Region, and was for a time freely available to read and download on their website. The information contained in the map was not provided by any person or advisor who has ever worked for MNR or KRG, contrary to NRT’s false allegations.

Following NRT’s absurd claims about its so-called “secret” document, Mr. Simon Hatfield, the CEO of Western Zagros, wrote to MNR to express concern about NRT’s reporting (click here to see attachment 2). He added that he would be writing to NRT to object to their “misleading portrayal.”

In his email to MNR, Mr. Hatfield confirmed the so-called secret map “shown in the NRT article does appear to be part of a map that we had on our public website in June 2015.” He said paper copies of it were also freely available at the June 2015 CWC conference in London. He wrote: “Our June 2015 map was not a “secret document” containing ‘new and secret information’ as the NRT article implies. In fact, it was publicly available on our website for anyone to make comment on.”

Mr. Hatfield then added the following points:

• “After we put the June 2015 map on our website we were informed by our consultant in September 2015 that it contained a discrepancy as it contained erroneously placed information, and we promptly replaced the map on the website. In subsequent versions of the map, the production data was replaced with data published by the Ministry.”

• “We have been publishing these maps based on our compilation of public information since 2012 and have received many compliments on how useful they are. The publishing of the June 2015 map was the one and only time a discrepancy was bought to our attention and we promptly attended to it.”

• Mr. Hatfield concluded by saying: “It is normal for responsible journalists to check their information before publishing. NRT made no attempt to contact us prior to this article being published and we are also not aware that they contacted the other operators cited.  If they had contacted us, we would have pointed out our disclaimer and that we had replaced the June 2015 map with a corrected map. In addition, if they had checked our more recent maps, they would have noticed we had replaced the production information. We will be writing to NRT to object to their misleading portrayal.”

Following NRT’s latest reporting, the consultancy company, CMX Caspian, which had provided some of the production estimates that Western Zagros used for its map, also wrote to MNR (click here to see attachment 3) to express “astonishment at the tone and inaccuracies of the NRT article which is replete with selective and manipulated use of erroneous figures, and clearly slanted towards a political aim.”

CMX’s executive director said CMX wanted “to set the record straight” and continued in its letter to MNR that contrary to NRT’s claims, “CMX is not, and has never been an advisor or contractor to the MNR or the KRG.”

CMX said that the oil production and export data CMX provided to WZ was requested by senior WZ management on extremely short notice for an internal corporate meeting. “Given the absence of any time to research… the data was not, and could never have been expected to be, indicative of actual production or exports.”

CMX added that the chart provided to WZ was “carefully and conspicuously marked “INACCURATE”, because, as requested by Western Zagros and discussed with Western Zagros, it represented a very rough estimate to be used for an internal meeting with no advance notice, and with explicit instruction for internal use only.”

CMX further expressed astonishment that “wholly inaccurate, non-factual data and information, known in advance to be estimated, entirely unverified and un-researched, and requested solely for use in an internal WZ emergency meeting and entirely confidential, was nonetheless publically released.”

CMX concluded that: “NRT’s report is inaccurate and baseless, and clearly pointed towards a political aim, and has no bearing on facts.”

Finally, anyone interested in seeing how wrong NRT got its facts about oil production in the KRG can visit the corporate websites of the individual producing IOCs working in the Kurdistan Region. These IOCs regularly publish their own figures about their own operated fields, as well as a wealth of other information related to their activities in the Kurdistan Region.

MNR’s reported production figures are compiled and crosschecked with each of the producing operators via an electronic data entry and reporting system, updated daily by the IOCs and verified by MNR to ensure accuracy of numbers on all sides.

These production figures are then used by the producing IOCs and MNR to calculate the IOC’s contractual production share entitlements and the net revenues retained by the KRG.

The same production and financial figures are also used to compile MNR’s monthly production and revenue reports. A detailed version of the monthly report is provided to the Kurdistan Region Oil & Gas Council. MNR also publicly releases a summary of this report, which is often praised by international observers as being more comprehensive and transparent than the publicly reported monthly information made available in other oil producing regions and countries.  

It is clear that NRT has its facts completely wrong and that it has done so deliberately, effectively misleading the people of Kurdistan at a time of national sensitivity. However, there is still an opportunity for NRT to rescue its reputation and become a genuine journalistic outlet and not a media tool that sadly sometimes allows itself to be used by others. Had NRT chosen the path of professionalism, they would have found MNR to be a source of reliable, factual information, enabling NRT to produce professional journalistic work and reliable reporting, analysis, and criticism.    

For ease of reference, MNR will imminently issue, in one amalgamated report, the production figures for 2015 and 2016 to date.

Attachments

1. Genel Energy Letter to NRT (attachment 1)

2. Western Zagros Email to MNR (attachment 2)

3. CMX Letter to MNR (attachment 3)