The story of Genel over the past year or more has demonstrated just the sort of risks attached to oil and gas explorers that do not recommend them to widows and orphans.
The oil is in Kurdish Iraq and it is relatively cheap to produce, giving some protection even at the present price. The problem has been getting paid for it. In November, after the Kurdish government reached a deal with Baghdad that would allow it to be paid for oil exported from there from Genel’s Miran and Bina Bawi fields, the company made a confident statement that it had a “firm commitment” to be paid by the Kurds.
One small payment was made, but then Baghdad backed out of the deal, the Kurds didn’t