Gulfsands Petroleum: Khurbet East Oil Field Pro...

LONDON, September 10 /PRNewswire/ --     Gulfsands Petroleum plc, the oil and 
gas production,
exploration and development company with activities in Syria, Iraq, and USA,
announced that stabilized oil production through the Khurbet East Early
Production Facility ("EPF") now exceeds 11,500 barrels of 25.7 degree API oil
per day (bopd), with production from three vertical and two horizontal wells.



    Oil production through Khurbet East EPF commenced 21st July
2008 with initial production from the KHE-4 vertical well. Additional wells
were successively brought online, and daily average production through the
month of August was approximately 5600 bopd. Upon completion of the
production startup phase on 5th September, all five wells are online and
daily production was increased to in excess of 11,500 bopd with only trace
amounts of water.



    Total field production to date has been in excess of 260,000
barrels of oil with the oil being transported by truck approximately 33
kilometers from the EPF to a processing facility operated by the Syrian
Petroleum Company ("SPC"). Sufficient trucking capacity had been pre-arranged
in order to transport these daily volumes.



    Under oil marketing arrangements reached with SPC and the Oil
Marketing Bureau ("OMB") of the Syrian Government, oil produced from the
Khurbet East Field will be sold as "Syrian heavy crude oil" which has an API
of approximately 24.1, into the OMB's well established markets and exported
through the Mediterranean port of Tartous using SPC's oil handling
infrastructure.



    During the first 12 months of production, and in keeping with
the oil marketing arrangements for oil produced from newly developed fields
and other producing fields within the region using the same SPC oil handling
infrastructure, the OMB has agreed to make an initial payment equal to 80% of
the value of the invoiced deliveries which value will be calculated by
reference to the official price of "Syrian heavy crude oil" with the balance
20% of the invoiced amount being retained pending completion of an
independent analysis of the specification of the oil delivered during this
period. This independent analysis will be carried out in September 2009 at
which time and subject to such adjustments as may be required for variations
in oil quality, the OMB will then pay all outstanding invoice retentions.
After completion of this analysis, OMB will pay 100% of all monthly invoiced
deliveries within 21 days of receiving invoices.



    
    For more information, please contact:
    
    Rana Al Bechara,
    Media Relations Consultant,
    Buchanan ME,
    [phone],
    [e-mail]