OREANDA-NEWS. Genel Energy plc (Genel) is pleased to announce that a Declaration of Commerciality (DoC) for the Miran field has been approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Genel currently holds a 100% working interest and is operator of the Miran licence. The KRG has the right to back in for a 25% working interest following DoC.

 The Miran field was discovered in 2009 and an assessment by RPS Energy has assigned gross mean contingent resources of 3.5Tcf of gas/95mmbbls of oil and condensate to the Miran West structure. Further upside remains in the Miran East and Miran Deep prospects, with an exploration well planned on the latter in 2014. In total, Genel estimates that the Miran block contains c.8Tcf of gross recoverable contingent and unrisked prospective resources.

 Following Declaration of Commerciality, the Development Period will commence on 5 September 2013, after which the Contractor will receive its share of revenues according to the PSC. An Early Production Facility for Miran oil was commissioned in August 2013 with the first well brought on-stream at c.2,000bopd. Work continues with the KRG to establish a Gas Commercialisation Plan, while Genel continues to expect the signing of a final Gas Export Agreement to Turkey by end-2013.

 Commenting, Charles Proctor, Head of Business Development for Genel, said:
 "The Miran Declaration of Commerciality represents an important milestone in the development of this major resource. We now look forward to continuing our work with the KRG to implement the Gas Commercialisation Plan and progress Miran towards project sanction. Our KRI gas business has the potential to supply a significant portion of Turkish demand growth, as well as having a transformational impact on Genel as our material resource base transitions closer to reserves."