Kurdistan Regional Government Natural Resources Minister, Ashti Hawrami says Kurdistan region is expected to start exporting Natural gas to turkey by 2016 after the completion of a new link to the Turkish border by the end of September.

The pipeline to Fishkabour near the frontier with Turkey will eventually have a capacity of 1 million barrels a day by 2015, Minister Ashti Hawrami said today at a conference in London.

The Kurdish region is currently exporting 30,000 barrels a day by truck to Turkey. Its oil-production capacity is due to increase to 400,000 barrels a day by the end of the year from a current 300,000 barrels a day, Hawrami said.

The Kurds will start crude production from six more Oil fields by the year-end, Minister Hawrami said.

The region has awarded five oil exploration blocks to a Turkish entity, he also said.