UPDATE:3rd Party Arbitration Not Part Of Kurdish Operations Halt-DNO
October 01 2009 - 6:31AM
Dow Jones News
DNO International ASA (DNO.OS) Thursday said an ongoing
arbitration process between it and an unnamed third party about
certain Kurdish oil assets aren't a part of the suspension period
in Kurdistan.
"There has been no formal statement of claim specifying the
damages requested in the arbitration to date. During our ongoing
discussions with the Kurdish Regional Government, we have
understood that the arbitration is not part of the present
suspension period in Kurdistan, which DNO is working to resolve as
soon as possible," the company said in a statement.
DNO said the proceedings are confidential and won't divulge the
identity of the third party whose claims to Kurdish interests it
has rejected.
But Norwegian financial daily newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv said
the company involved is Ansan Wikfs Investment, owned by Yemeni
businessman. Dagens Naeringsliv said Ansan Wikfs is demanding
NOK3.1 million in compensation from DNO relating to production
sharing contract negotiations in Kurdistan. Repeated requests from
Dow Jones Newswires to Abdulhak's company Shaher Trading and Ansan
Wikfs about involvement in any dispute over Kurdish assets have
gone unanswered.
Earlier this month, KRG suspended DNO's oil operations and
exports in Kurdistan on the basis that misleading and incomplete
publications by the Oslo Stock Exchange relating to a DNO share
sale caused "unjustifiable and incalculable harm" to the KRG. It
said at the time that DNO had six weeks to remedy damage done to
the KRG's reputation, sort out its internal issues with the stock
exchange and "any other disputes that they may have with any other
third parties with respect to any claims related to the
production-sharing contracts." Market watchers understood that to
mean DNO might have to resolve its ongoing arbitration proceedings
more quickly.
DNO has oil assets in Yemen, as has Ansan Wikfs, according to
its Web site.
Web site: www.dno.no
-By Elizabeth Adams, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 20 7842 9386;
elizabeth.adams@dowjones.com