LOCAL listed explorer and producer Amity Oil Limited says its Turkey operations are unaffected by hostilities within Iraq and airline Emirates is reporting business as usual despite the Iraqi conflict.
Amity operates and produces from the Gocerler gas field, in a 50-50 joint venture with a Turkish Government-owned petroleum company, Turkiye Petrolleri.
It supplies customers from a connected gas plant in an industrial region of European Turkey, 1,500 kilometres from the Iraqi border and an hour’s drive from Istanbul.
Amity chairman Tony Barton said the company had faith in the Turkish Government’s ability to maintain political and economic stability.
“It is highly unlikely that operations will be affected by current hostilities,” he said.
The company is continuing exploration, and the plant has been upgraded in anticipation of accommodating new gas and of increasing sales by up to 50 per cent.
Plans are in place for a new well to be drilled next month, and new customers, mostly textile manufacturers, are being connected to the plant.
Emirates, the Dubai-based airline flying four times a week from Perth to Dubai, is also reporting business as usual.
An Emirates spokesman said the company had never flown over Iraq, and as none of its routes took aircraft even near the country, all scheduled services were still operating.
Emirates had waived cancellation fees during the Iraq conflict, the spokesman said, but few passengers had taken up the offer, and bookings remained “steady and healthy”.
There has also been no noticeable decrease in freight – mostly perishable exports and manufactured goods imports.
However, asked whether Emirates had been carrying any war-relief cargo from Australia, the spokesman said “it is not possible to say at this stage”.
Emirates was not anticipating the Iraq conflict would setback any of the company’s Australian expansion plans, the spokesperson said.
