Shaikan Operational and Payment Update

RNS Number : 1379Z

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd.

15 September 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.

15 September 2015

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP)

("Gulf Keystone" or "the Company")

Shaikan Operational and Payment Update

Gulf Keystone, the operator of the world class Shaikan field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, is pleased to announce that total commercial production from the Shaikan field has now surpassed 15 million barrels with the current daily average production in excess of 40,000 barrels of oil gross.

In July 2015, at the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government's ("KRG") Ministry of Natural Resources ("MNR"), the Company commenced trucking Shaikan crude oil a distance of 120 km to Fyshkhabour on the Turkish border for injection into the export pipeline to Ceyhan in Turkey. In anticipation of regular payments for pipeline export sales announced by the KRG earlier this month and at the request of the MNR, the Company is in the process of transferring all crude oil deliveries to the export pipeline.

As of today, the Company's cash position is US$73.0 million, including the recent payment of US$15 million gross (US$12 million net to Gulf Keystone) now received for Shaikan crude oil exports.

Enquiries:

Gulf Keystone Petroleum:	[phone]
Jón Ferrier, CEO
Sami Zouari, CFO
Anastasia Vvedenskaya, Head of Investor Relations	[phone]
Celicourt Communications:	[phone]
Mark Antelme Jimmy Lea

or visit: www.gulfkeystone.com

Notes to Editors:

·           Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations 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. 

·           Following the establishment of a regular payment cycle for all oil sales and arrears, Gulf Keystone plans to move 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.

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.

 

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