DNO weighs westward Kurdish oil route through Syria as local price reaches $38.5

Key Facts

Norwegian company DNO is assessing opportunities to transport its oil from Iraq's Kurdistan Region west through Syria, as the realized price for its local sales reached $38.5 per barrel in the third quarter of 2026, the highest level since those sales began in 2023. Chief Executive Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said during the company's results call that DNO "is looking at those possibilities and opportunities." The route under consideration raises the prospect of a new way to move Iraqi and Kurdish oil to markets farther west, while the company continues to sell Kurdish oil locally. DNO said in its financial disclosure that third-quarter revenue reached $1 billion, up a third from the previous quarter, while operating profit rose to $641 million. The company attributed the results to higher production and improved prices, without announcing a final decision or a company-specific export project through Syria.

DNO's net production in the third quarter was 142,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 61% from the previous quarter. Its net production in Kurdistan was 54,914 barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared with 273 barrels in the second quarter and 34,929 barrels in the third quarter of 2025. The comparison reflects the return of production in the region during the period, following the precautionary shutdown before field operations resumed. The company said it resumed production at the Tawke field on June 28, then at the Peshkabir field on July 11. DNO has a 75% working interest in the Tawke license, which includes both fields, making their return to production a key factor in its Kurdish output figures.

Alongside the realized price of $38.5 per barrel in the third quarter, DNO said net profit was $101.1 million, compared with $83.4 million in the second quarter, and free cash flow reached $326.5 million. The company said all payments for its share of oil produced at Kurdish fields during the quarter were credited to its international bank accounts in advance of cargo delivery. According to the company's disclosure, this arrangement meant payment for the oil was collected before delivery during the period. The recorded local price also provides a basis for comparison with any potential return from a future export route, but DNO has not specified an expected export price through Syria. The company also has not announced commercial or logistical arrangements for its oil along that route.

The company's assessment comes amid broader efforts to transport Iraqi oil to the Syrian coast. The National reported that at least 2.1 million tonnes of Iraqi fuel oil had been trucked to Syria from April through Oct. 9, before being moved to the port of Banias. The report said trucks unload their cargo at Banias on the Mediterranean coast, where the fuel oil is pumped onto tankers for export. That transport involved Iraqi fuel oil and does not establish that a similar route has been agreed for Kurdish oil or DNO cargoes. The Associated Press also reported that Iraq and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding on July 17 to rehabilitate or rebuild the Kirkuk-Banias pipeline, in a government initiative separate from any announced commercial agreement involving the company.

Trucks transport fuel to Banias along a route the Associated Press described as less efficient and more costly than shipping through the strait, while the proposed pipeline could carry larger volumes from Iraq to Syria and Turkey. On other Iraqi routes, the agency reported that Baghdad and Ankara signed a one-year agreement to increase oil exports through the pipeline to Ceyhan, while Iraq's total exports before the war were about 3.5 million barrels per day. These arrangements show the range of transport options under consideration, but do not settle which route DNO might use or on what terms. The company said it expects average production of about 86,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the North Sea in 2026, and average gross operated production of 50,000 barrels per day in Kurdistan. Its next plans in the region include increasing drilling activity in 2027, while considering a contract for a third large drilling rig.