Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited, traded as GKP on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company.
Founded by UAE, Kuwaiti, and US private equity firms in 2001 it has been registered in Bermuda, with branch offices in Erbil, Kurdistan, and London, UK.
The company operates in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and is also the operator of the Shaikan oil field.
Gulf Keystone's initial operations in Algeria were less successful than had been hoped, leading to a weakened share price. However, the company altered its strategy, working with the American company Texas Keystone International to complete the acquisition of exploration acreage in Kurdistan. This included a majority position in the Shaikan block, for which Gulf Keystone would be the operator.
The Shaikan wildcat well was a success in the summer of 2009, realizing that the volume of oil in Shaikan was much greater than had been expected from the pre-drill assessments.
GKP share price launched at 2,466p in 2004.