Drilling operations on the Atrush block in Iraqi Kurdistan have been restarted after a suspension due to hostilities in northern Iraq, according to Canada’s ShaMaran Petroleum, a joint-venture partner in the development.

Activities at the Chita Khere-8 production well were restarted on 30 August after being shut down for 21 days by the project’s operator Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa).

ShaMaran said that civil engineering works at the phase-one central processing facility (CPF) continued uninterrupted throughout the period.

The Atrush development is a joint venture of Taqa (39.9 per cent), the Kurdistan Regional Government (25 per cent), ShaMaran (20.1 per cent) and US-based Marathon Oil (15 per cent).

The consortium plans to spend $300m on drilling three production wells and the construction of a CPF with the aim of reaching a capacity of 30,000 barrels a day (b/d) in 2015.

The Atrush block is one of several companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan to be affected by the conflict in northern Iraq.