Litigation Update

RNS Number : 5700V

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd.

16 December 2013

 



Not for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States or jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction.

16 December 2013

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (AIM: GKP)

("Gulf Keystone" or "the Company")

Litigation Update

On 10 September 2013, the English Commercial Court (the "Court") provided a summary of its decision to dismiss all of the claims asserted by Excalibur Ventures LLC ("Excalibur") against the Company, its two subsidiaries and Texas Keystone Inc. (together the "Defendants") and decided all issues in favour of the Defendants.

Gulf Keystone is pleased to announce today that on 13 December 2013 the Court handed down its full judgment ("Judgment") dismissing all of the claims asserted by Excalibur and deciding all issues in favour of the Defendants. The Judgment is expected to be made public at  http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/judgments/2013/index. 

Further to its announcement of 9 December 2013, the Company is pleased to reiterate that Excalibur does not propose to appeal the Judgment.

On 13 December 2013, the Court also ordered that the Defendants should recover their costs of these legal proceedings and that these costs, if not agreed, should be assessed on an indemnity basis, which is typically more generous than the standard basis. Excalibur must pay interest on the Defendants' costs at the rate of 1.5% per annum, from the date of payment of the invoices until 13 December 2013.

The Court further ordered that the full sum of £17,500,000, which had been paid by Excalibur into the Court as security for the Defendants' costs, be paid out to the Defendants, i.e.  £10,700,000 to Gulf Keystone and its two subsidiaries and £6,800,000 to Texas Keystone Inc. 

The Court further ordered Excalibur to provide an additional security for the costs of the Company and its two subsidiaries in the sum of £3,209,210 and an additional security for the costs of Texas Keystone Inc. in the sum of £2,402,800 by payment into Court by 31 December 2013, failing which the Defendants are at liberty to commence proceedings for recovery of such costs against Excalibur's funders, namely  Psari Holdings Limited, Mr Adonis Lemos, BlackRobe Capital Partners LLC, BlackRobe AEO Investors I, LLC, Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage Fund LP, Hamilton Capital LLC.

Commenting on the Court's decision, Gulf Keystone's CEO Todd Kozel said:

"We are extremely pleased to have reached the end of this three year long process, which required a lot of time and effort from the Company and created unfortunate and significant uncertainty for our shareholders. The Court ruled in our favour in the most unequivocal manner, acknowledging the speculative nature of Excalibur's claims, all of which have been dismissed. We worked hard to defend our position, which has been clearly articulated from the very beginning, in the interests of our shareholders. After recovering the costs of these proceedings, we look forward to putting these historical events behind us to focus on our growing development and production business in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq." 

Enquiries:

Gulf Keystone Petroleum:	[phone]
Simon Murray, Non-Executive Chairman
Todd Kozel, Chief Executive Officer
Anastasia Vvedenskaya, Investor Relations
Strand Hanson Limited	[phone]
Stuart Faulkner / James Harris / Rory Murphy
Mirabaud Securities LLP	[phone]
Peter Krens
Pelham Bell Pottinger	[phone]
Mark Antelme / Henry Lerwill

or visit: http://www.gulfkeystone.com/ 

Notes to Editors:

§ Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (AIM: GKP) is an independent oil and gas exploration 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, including 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 Kalegran Ltd. (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, following the approval of the Shaikan Field Development Plan, announced on 26 June 2013.

Disclaimer

Not for release, publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction.  This announcement (and the information contained herein) does not contain or constitute an offer of securities for sale, or solicitation of an offer to purchase securities, in the United States or jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States unless the securities are registered under the Securities Act, or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act is available.  No public offering of the securities will be made in the United States.

 

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