Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

RNS Number : 8416C

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd.

22 January 2015

 



Not for release, publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part in or into the United States or any jurisdiction other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws or regulations of such jurisdiction.  This announcement (and the information contained herein) does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation or sale would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws or regulations of such jurisdiction.

22 January 2015

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP)

("Gulf Keystone" or "the Company")

Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

Gulf Keystone Petroleum, an exploration and production company with operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sami Zouari to the Board of the Company (the "Board") as Chief Financial Officer as of 22 January 2015.

Mr Zouari, 42, joins the Company following careers in both the oil & gas industry and investment banking, where he also had a particular focus on the Energy and Commodities sectors in the Middle East and North Africa.

Educated at Columbia and Harvard Universities, Mr Zouari has most recently served as the Regional Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for North Africa, Iraq and Oman at BNP Paribas. Prior to his career in investment banking, he worked for Total EP in a number of roles, including as Commercial Manager for Total EP Libya in Tripoli.

In line with the Company's Recruitment Remuneration Policy for Executive Directors, Mr Zouari has been granted 1,500,000 market-priced share options at an exercise price of 55.00 pence. One third of the share options will vest upon his appointment and two further instalments of 500,000 share options will vest upon the first and second anniversaries of his appointment respectively.

There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to sections LR 9.6.11, LR 9.6.12 or LR 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules, FCA Handbook.

In addition, Gulf Keystone is informing the market today that the Company will announce its results for the year ended 31 December 2014 on Thursday 9 April 2015.

Commenting on today's announcement, John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone's Chief Executive Officer said:

"We are delighted to welcome Sami Zouari to the Board and to complete the management team. Alongside his strong financial and industry background, Sami brings substantial knowledge of the Middle East region, which is key to our operations and stakeholder relationships in the Kurdistan Region. He knows Gulf Keystone well, having worked with us in the past on the convertible bond issues for the Company in 2012 and 2013.

"I would like to thank Mary Hood, who will now assume the role of Deputy CFO, for the excellent interim job she has performed for a number of months."

Enquiries:

Gulf Keystone Petroleum:	[phone]
John Gerstenlauer, Chief Executive Officer
Anastasia Vvedenskaya, Head of Investor Relations	[phone] [phone]
Media Relations and Financial PR Adviser:	[phone]
Mark Antelme

or visit: www.gulfkeystone.com

Notes to Editors:

·           Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP) is an independent oil and gas exploration, development and production company focused on exploration in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

·           Gulf Keystone Petroleum International (GKPI) holds Production Sharing Contracts for four exploration blocks in Kurdistan, the Shaikan, Sheikh Adi, Ber Bahr and Akri-Bijeel blocks.

·           GKPI is the operator of the Shaikan Block, which is a major commercial discovery, with a working interest of 75% and is partnered with MOL Kalegran Limited (a 100% subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas plc.) and Texas Keystone Inc., which have working interests of 20% and 5% respectively.  Texas Keystone Inc. holds its interest in trust for Gulf Keystone, pending transfer of its interest to the Company.

·           Gulf Keystone is moving into the large-scale phased development of the Shaikan field targeting 100,000 bopd of production capacity during Phase 1 of the Shaikan Field Development Plan following its approval in June 2013.

Disclaimer

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements.  These statements are made by the Company's Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this announcement but such statements should be treated with caution due to inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business factors, underlying such forward-looking information.  This announcement has been prepared solely to provide additional information to shareholders to assess the Group's strategies and the potential for those strategies to succeed.  This announcement should not be relied on by any other party or for any other purpose.

This communication and the information contained herein is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States unless they are registered or are exempt from registration. Any public offering of securities to be made in the United States would be made by means of a prospectus that would contain detailed information about the company and its management, as well as financial statements. The company does not intend to register any portion of this offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering in the United States or any other jurisdiction. Any public offering of securities to be made in the United States would be made by means of a prospectus that would contain detailed information about the Company and its management, as well as financial statements. Copies of this communication are not being, and should not be, distributed in or sent into the United States.

 

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