Approval of Akri-Bijeel FDP

RNS Number : 6629V

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd.

30 October 2014

 



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30 October 2014

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP)

("Gulf Keystone" or "the Company")

Approval of Akri-Bijeel Field Development Plan

Gulf Keystone, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, notes today's announcement by MOL Plc., operator of the Akri-Bijeel Block in which Gulf Keystone holds 20 per cent working interest, as follows:

"MOL Plc. hereby informs the capital market participants that the Field Development Plan (FDP) for the Akri-Bijeel Block in Kurdistan has been officially approved by the Minister for Natural Resources. Key terms of the related Lifting Agreement and Pipeline Construction Agreement are under discussion with the Ministry of Natural Resources.

MOL Kalegran Ltd. (a 100% subsidiary of MOL) has been operating in Kurdistan since 2007 and is the Operator of the Akri-Bijeel Block. The Operator announced two commercial discoveries in the Block. The FDP is based on these two discovery areas, i.e. Bijell area and the Bakrman area. The development will be done in two phases, phase one objective is to allow the Operator to better determine key factors such as the reserves base, recovery factor, optimum surface facility design and overall field development cost. Phase I will start immediately with 4 drilling rigs and 1 work over rig to help reduce the overall timeline with front-end-loading wherever possible for Phase II."

John Gerstenlauer, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Keystone, commented:

"The approval of the Field Development Plan for the Akri-Bijeel Block is a culmination of years of exploration and appraisal, which will now lead to a development phase and production in due course. It is an important milestone for all stakeholders in the Akri-Bijeel project."

Enquiries:

Gulf Keystone Petroleum:	[phone]
Anastasia Vvedenskaya, Head of Investor Relations
Bell Pottinger	[phone]
Mark Antelme / Henry Lerwill

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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