Norbest, an affiliate of Alpha Access Renova, which is controlled by Russian oligarchs Victor Vekselberg, Mikhail Fridman and Leonard Blavatnik, had acquired stakes in the Hawler and Sindi Amedi blocks in 2007.
Oryx expects to learn more when it drills Banan this year. (See and excellent map of all the Kurdish oil and gas concessions here.) In an optimistic scenario laid out in the Oryx prospectus, Demir Dagh has the potential to give up 215, 000 bpd of oil by 2017, with the entire Hawler block (65% Oryx interest) producing more than 300, 000 bpd by 2018.