UPDATE 1-Iraq to resume Kurdish oil exportsUPDATE 1-Iraq to resume Kurdish oil exports soon - oil min
* Norway's DNO shares jump 10.5 pct
* Ahdab oilfield's production capacity at 200,000 bpd
(Adds details, background)
BAGHDAD, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Iraq expects to resume oilexports from its Kurdistan region "in the near future", OilMinister Hussain al-Shahristani told reporters on Tuesday, butthe fate of disputed deals with foreign oil firms is unclear.
Exports had been stopped for several months by a row betweenthe largely autonomous Kurdish region and the Baghdad governmentover oil deals Kurdish leaders had signed independently,including a contract with Norway's DNO (DNO.OL: Quote, Profile,Research).
"Finding a solution ... to these contracts will take a longtime. But exporting oil will resume in the near future, Godwilling," Shahristani said. "The resumption of exports has noconnection with finding a solution to these oil contracts."
DNO shares jumped 10.5 percent on the news that exports fromKurdistan in Iraq's north, which Kurdish leaders had targeted at100,000 barrels per day, would resume after being stopped lastyear. Exports had started amid great fanfare in June.
Separately Shahristani said that production capacity atIraq's Ahdab oilfield, which is being developed by the China'sCNPC, was found to be 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) afterseismic surveys, up from 115,000 bpd.(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed, writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editingby William Hardy)