Genel says receives Iraqi Kurdistan oil export payment

LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Genel Energy (Other OTC: GEGYF - news) , one of the foreign oil companies active in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, said on Friday the partners operating the Taq Taq field had received a $16.3 million oil export payment from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The transaction is part of the KRG's strategy announced earlier this week to start paying oil companies according to the terms of their contracts, instead of ad hoc payments it had been making since last September.

Genel said it and its partner Addax Petroleum had also received a $3.2 million payment covering five percent of the gross monthly netback revenue of their field, an additional commitment made by the KRG in its new payment strategy.

Genel said its entitlements for oil exported from the Taq Taq field and netback revenue amounted to $10.8 million in January.

Since last June, the Kurds have ramped up independent oil sales to more than 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), but with a bloated public payroll and depressed prices, the region is running a deficit of $380-400 million per month.

The KRG still owed oil companies billions of dollars for oil exports.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps; editing by Adrian Croft)