http://www.gulfkeystone.com/ The firms exploration programme in Algeria is going well and "the shares look good value", say the Investors Chronicle. Your comments please. goal.

Sold half at 189p back in Nov, the rest are a free ride plus a small lump I bought at 170p so will old for now......I think.,.

Exports can start, but on a "no profit" basis.

Still, I suppose people are getting salaries and directors are getting paid so the only losers are the shareholders really as it stands.......

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/business-news/139660-iraq-to-pay-costs-to-foreign-oil-firms-in-kurdish-region.html

.

i note that little gem was dated very early yesterday (20th) morning, so surely already accounted for

Gulf Keystone today provides an update on its active work program in Kurdistan.



Sheikh Adi - 1



The Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well is currently at the 13.375 inch casing point at the bottom of the Cretaceous interval after side tracking around a section of the bottom hole assembly that had become stuck in the open hole. The forward plan is to set 13.375 inch casing and drill out into the top of the Jurassic age formations and the first of the primary exploration targets for this well.



Shaikan-2



The Shaikan-2 appraisal well (9 km east of Shaikan-1) is currently drilling 17.5 inch hole at approximately 1,210 metres. The forward plan is to drill to the bottom of the Cretaceous interval, set 13.375 inch casing and then drill into the first of the Jurassic age target intervals.



Extended Well Test



The Shaikan-1 discovery well and the Shaikan-3 well are both now tied into the extended well test facility and ready to produce from the Jurassic age Sargelu reservoir. To date, the Company has sold over 63,000 barrels of oil into the domestic Kurdistan market, which has yielded valuable commercial and marketing information. The Company has signed an initial quarterly sales contract for 2,500 tons (for Sargelu crude oil, one ton equals 6.7 barrels) of oil per week to be sold into the Kurdistan domestic market.



3D Seismic Program



The 3D seismic data acquisition program has been fully completed on both the Shaikan and the Sheikh Adi structures. Data processing and seismic interpretation will continue until at least June of this year.



Shaikan-4



The location for this well, the second deep appraisal well on the Shaikan structure (6 km west of Shaikan-1), has been completed and the Company has signed a letter of intent with AOS for their Discoverer 3 drilling rig. This 2000 hp rig will begin moving from Tunisia to Kurdistan in February and well spud is currently anticipated by the end of March. Shaikan-4 is targeted to drill the Jurassic and Triassic age formations and if warranted, into the top of the Permian.




Akri-Bijeel



Kalegran (100% subsidiary of MOL) is currently rigging up on the Bekhme-1. This well is designated as a Jurassic exploration well with a target depth of 2,900 metres (depending on well results). The well is expected to spud by mid March.



John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone's Chief Operating Officer commented "We will very shortly have two appraisal wells and two exploration wells underway in Kurdistan. We are very excited about the possibilities that this implies for our holdings in Kurdistan and we are looking forward to a very interesting and rewarding 2011."

Gulf Keystone is pleased to announce that a corporate film is now available to view on the Company's website, www.gulfkeystone.com.



The film includes interviews with the Company's senior management, as well as footage of Gulf Keystone's assets in the Kurdistan region of Northern Iraq.

Executive Bonus Scheme for 2010



The Remuneration Committee has recommended to the Trustee ("EBT Trustee") of the Company's Employee Benefit Trust ("EBT") that it makes discretionary awards for 2010 under the Company's Executive Bonus Scheme up to a maximum of 8,453,334 common shares of USD 0.01 ("common shares") to be provisionally allocated for Directors and employees. No more than 2,113,334 common shares can be considered for award in 2011and 3,170,000 common shares in each of the years 2012 and 2013.



The maximum number of common shares that would be available in the EBT under the 2010 Executive Bonus Scheme for the Directors, subject to the discretion of the EBT Trustee, is set out below:



Todd Kozel 3,968,889

Ewen Ainsworth 793,778

John Gerstenlauer 793,778



In addition the Board has approved the direct award [not through the EBT] of up to 888,888 common shares under the 2010 Executive Bonus Scheme to each of Mehdi Varzi and Lord Peter Truscott with no more than 222,222 common shares being considered for award in 2011 and 333,333 common shares in each of the years 2012 and 2013.



Share Subscription by the EBT Trustee



The EBT Trustee has considered the recommendations and indicated on 4 February 2011 that it wishes to subscribe for a total of 5,886,332 common shares in the Company to enable it to effect the discretionary issue of 3,772,998 common shares to Directors and employees in respect of one third of the 2009 Executive Bonus Scheme, in accordance with the previous recommendations of the Remuneration Committee (detailed in announcements of the 7th June and 25th June 2010) and 2,113,334 common shares as recommended in respect of the 2010 Executive Bonus Scheme.



Executive Bonus Scheme Awards 2008, 2009 and 2010



On 4 February 2011 the Board approved the direct issue [not through the EBT] of a further 1,103,948 common shares to enable the Company to effect the final instalment pursuant to the 2008 Executive Bonus Scheme and the second instalment pursuant to the 2009 Executive Bonus Scheme (detailed in announcements of the 7th June and 25th June 2010) and the first instalment pursuant to the 2010 Executive Bonus scheme in favour of certain Directors and employees in accordance with the recommendations of the Remuneration Committee. The direct awards to Directors are as follows:

Iraq Kurdistan to export 100,000 bpd - official

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi Kurdistan Region's oil revenues will go to the central government in accordance with agreements signed between the two sides, said a spokesman for the Kurdistan Alliance, noting the region will export 100,000 barrels per day (bpd).

"The central government's approval and ratification on the oil contracts concluded by the region's government represent a good practical step to turn over a new chapter," Mouayad Tayyeb told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

"The Iraqi Kurdistan Region's government looks forward to building relations based on partnership and cooperation to remove all obstacles," he said.
Tayyeb added that the region's government has nothing to hide in the oil-exporting process.
"The government seeks boosting Iraq's budget with additional resources."

He said that the next step to develop work in this field is to link 50 oil wells in various areas of the region through the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline that carries oil supplies to Ceyhan port.

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20110207053343

Another slant on what can only be classed as brillent news imho.

Goldman Sachs has a 234p rating on this stock, Iraqi prime minister Maliki has stated that Bagdad will now accept all contacts signed by KRG as being legal, due to difficult exploration conditions in region--this is a major turn around and we have a wealth of news to come (potentially very good) over the next few weeks and months.

too slow to get back in and damned if i'm going to keep keep chasing, even though good to see all time high being seriously challenged for about 4th time

Surely the contracrissue was the thorn in the foot,the SP that options have bben set speak imo volumes for the future?

Monday, February 7, 2011
PRASHANT RAO
BAGHDAD- Agence France-Presse
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that the central government in Iraq will accept Kurdish oil deals with foreign firms due to their higher level of profit based on the different natural conditions for oil drilling in Kurdistan compared with the south of Iraq."It's difficult to have service contracts in Kurdistan but it's normal to have them in southern Iraq," he added



U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and Nuri al- Maliki, prime minister of Iraq, meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009. Bloomberg photo

Nuri al-Maliki's announcement that Iraq will honor Kurdish oil deals with foreign firms will boost its coffers, but experts said Sunday the longer term impact of his remarks may well be more significant.

The Iraqi prime minister's concession came in an interview with AFP on Saturday, signaling an end to a stand-off between the central government and the autonomous Kurdish region after the latter cut off exports of oil in October 2009 in a row over payments to foreign firms.

In the interview, Maliki said Iraq's Oil Ministry "accepted these contracts because the nature of the extraction in Kurdistan is different from [the southern province of] Basra," referring to two production-sharing contracts signed with Norway's DNO and Turkey's Genel Enerji.

"Maliki's comments are historical because they mark the defeat of the centralist oil policy pursued by his previous oil minister, [current Deputy Prime Minister] Hussein al-Shahristani, since 2006," said Reidar Visser, an Iraq expert who runs the historiae.org website.

"[Maliki] recognizes the Kurdish contracts and their higher level of profit based on the different natural conditions for oil drilling in Kurdistan compared with the south of Iraq. This establishes a precedent that in theory could apply to new fields in the future."

Maliki told AFP on Saturday that there was "a need for bigger efforts" in Kurdistan, while in oil-rich Basra province, oil "is closer to the surface."

"It's difficult to have service contracts in Kurdistan but it's normal to have them in southern Iraq," he added.

While Kurdistan's contracts are based on profit-sharing, Baghdad prefers the use of a service fee, whereby firms are paid a fixed sum for each additional barrel of oil they extract above current production.

In 2009, the central government awarded 11 contracts to international energy firms based on the service fee model. Kurdish authorities, meanwhile, have signed some 30 contracts with foreign firms in addition to the DNO and Genel Enerji deals, though the latter two are the only ones producing oil presently.

Ruba Husari, the Baghdad-based founder and editor of the IraqOilForum.com website, said Maliki's remarks could set a precedent for future oil deals signed by Iraq, which holds the world's fourth-largest proven crude reserves.

"Even though Maliki was talking about the two contracts covering fields that are in production, he is still creating precedence by legitimizing production-sharing contracts awarded by one region of Iraq," she said.

"If the Iraqi government is admitting that production-sharing contracts are applicable to exploration-and-production contracts in the Kurdistan region because of the higher risk, it will be required to be consistent and use the same contracts for exploration and production in the rest of Iraq."

Husari cautioned, however, that she did not foresee such events taking place, noting that this would be "too controversial" in the rest of Iraq, and added that Kurdistan was a "special case because it is a long-established region with its own parliament, laws and cabinet."

The central government in Baghdad has repeatedly said it was opposed to the Kurds signing their own contracts, barring foreign firms that did so from participating in auctions of large oil fields in the rest of Iraq.

But Kurdish officials ignored those threats by clinching agreements with several international companies after the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

"Major international companies, particularly the British and the Americans, have avoided Kurdistan and turned to Baghdad but now they'll be regretting that they left the doors open ... and will now be playing catch-up," said Ranj Alaaldin, senior Iraq analyst in London at the Next Century Foundation.

He added: "Baghdad's recognition of the production-sharing contracts could also put it under pressure from both current and future investors the federal government will have to answer to these firms, who will be expecting better terms if not a complete scrapping of the service agreement."

Iraq currently produces around 2.5 million barrels per day, and output is expected to rise to 3 million barrels per day by the end of the year. Overall exports, which account for the lion's share of Iraq's government revenue, averaged around 1.95 million bpd in December 2010.

Production, however, is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years when the contracts awarded in 2009 come online.

don't disagree, but still not sure of "fair value"

=============

have allowed stomach to overrule brain and bought 50% stake at 196.5 - could have easily bought 10p cheaper a bit earlier ..... have rationalised on basis of contract approval and surge through previous all time high ..... if things subsequently look even more promising, have room to top up without being o'weight

good stuff this hindsight ...... wish i'd kept a pack as wouldn't then have paid too much!

working on my 6 pack, that aside my holding slightly more than that and very happy :))

186p top up for me this am,with over 10m traded this is imo back on the radar screens.I feel momentum will start to build up very soon and any positive drill results will
score heavily.

Denial......

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/07/iraq-oil-kurds-idUSLDE71616I20110207


.

by Reidar Visser on Monday, 7 February 2011 15:08

This is becoming somewhat farcical, but today the Iraqi deputy premier for oil and energy affairs, Hussein al-Shahristani, tells Reuters that the Iraqi premier, Nuri al-Maliki, was misquoted when he said the Kurdish contracts with foreign oil companies had been approved. Shahristani reiterates the argument that he has always made about the need for the central government to review the contracts before they are approved, even going as far as explicitly saying they need to be converted to technical service contracts (more similar to what is being used by the central government for oil contracts in the south).

It is rather remarkable for the deputy premier to contradict the premier on such a key issue, and the suggestion about a misquote does not quite make sense: Maliki was presenting an elaborate argument about the geological differences between Basra and Kurdistan and the interview included several comments which all went in the same direction. Surely no simple misunderstanding can assert itself in this way across a whole section of an interview even though it seems likely that the interview with Shahristani was conducted in English and the one with Maliki in Arabic? Nonetheless, the refutation seems to reflect the prevailing mood in the Iraqi oil ministry, where Reuters reported astonishment and even disbelief during the weekend when the news of Malikis comments broke. No one, it was said, had heard anything.

So who is right and who is wrong? On the one hand, Shahristani himself has a record of recent misquotes, as when he allegedly said Iraq would reach an oil production of 4 million barrels per day at yearend a figure which was promptly adjusted downwards by one million bpd by the oil ministry. But Maliki has also been acting strangely since the start of his second term. First, there was the seemingly suicidal attempt to alienate almost every force in Iraqi politics by attaching IHEC and other independent commissions to the executive, which just weeks ago brought about an alliance of critics reminiscent of the opposition Maliki was facing in early 2010 at the time of the budget. And then there was this latest episode involving the Kurdish oil deals, in which Maliki seemed to abruptly give up his pretensions to keep Baghdad as the ultimate power broker as far as the energy sector is concerned.

Perhaps what we are seeing is Malikis old tendency of turning to the Kurds in times of trouble, which was evident already in autumn 2009. If that is the case, the key question is how many members of his own Shiite alliance are willing to follow him in that direction, and how far are they willing to go when it comes to making concessions to the Kurds on issues like oil/energy, Kirkuk and generally enshrining the kind of quota-based, ethnicity-oriented political system that the Kurds are seeking. The latest move by Maliki was surprising in that it seemed to indicate that Shiite attempts to assert a centralist policy in energy questions were dead; Shahristanis response today suggest that the centralist/nationalist element in the National Alliance, which also includes Sadrist and Turkmen components, is still there and at least is putting up some kind of resistance when it comes to independent energy deals by provincial authorities. Alongside Maliki and Shahristani, a third force to watch for is erstwhile Daawa member Ibrahim al-Jaafari, now parliamentary head of the National Alliance bloc, who is cutting a dominant figure both in parliament and at NA meetings, sometimes at the expense of Maliki himself. Jaafari was famously deselected as premier for a second term in 2006 thanks in part to Kurdish pressure.

The plot thickens?

News Update from iii -

http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/Iraq-still-wants-Kurd-oil-deal-changes-Shahristani-2011-02-07T162127Z-UPDATE-2

Quote -

"But AFP said it stood by its story.

"Mr. Maliki was not misquoted, and we stand by our story in full. In no part of our interview did Mr. Maliki suggest revising the Kurdish contracts into service agreements," said Sammy Ketz, AFP's Baghdad bureau chief, who did the interview."

Here's the views of 2 quality posters on how recent going ons will effect GKP?

People. Everyone is interpreting Sharistani's intervention as totally negative.

Its not!

Firstly he has conceded that the contracts are legal. Huge step forward!

He states that they may need to be turned into service contracts. Not a negative in itself given that he has awarded explo service contacts in S Iraq at $7 - $8 / barrel.

These figures are well above the figures I use for my NAVs ($3.5/barrel)

So what is all the hoo har about?

We will get a good deal from the PSCs and also from a Service contracts.

Its a win/win situation and all the negativity on here is probably because people have just not thought through the consequences and implications.

All IMHO :0)

Dalesman

ZENGAS.

Absolutely agree with Dalesmans post.

Today Sharistani said this "...we expect that all these (Kurdish) production-sharing contracts should be amended to be service contracts in order to be approved"

Approved! - a big change from previous stances.

So we will either have a PSC or a SC.

The KRG are our Strategic partner - and so far we could have one of the biggest fields next to Kirkuk.

We've heard the Iraqi Chief say and describe the reasons why terms are different in Kurdistan re geology extraction etc. The Kurdistan region is about the toughest for exploration.

Most if not all of the SCs in Iraq are for previously discovered fields.
Some of those SCs range up to $8.50/b.

I've added several hundred thousand shares today and i'm as confident as Kozell, Gestenlauer and Sammarai in that video.


AND

Worth bearing in mind that these Iraqi SC rates are also for much lower value gas and not oil.

Kuwait Energy and partners will get paid $7.50/boe for gas production at the Siba field and $7/boe at the Mansuriya field.

Plateau production for both fields will be 70,000 boe/day - not bad work if you can get it.

http://www.ameinfo.com/246055.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/08/saudi-oil-reserves-overstated-wikileaks

Also


http://www.cityam.com/news-and-analysis/trading-small-caps-set-be-volatile-friday

Trading in small caps set to be volatile this Friday
Tuesday, 8th February 2011
MARKETS
TRADING on Londons Alternative Investment Market (Aim) may be volatile on Friday because this is when CMC Markets will close out any Aim share bets made by its clients.
CMC delisted trading in the junior index with no new positions opened via its trading platform on Aim shares after 21 January .
Any Aim bets by CMC clients that remain open will be closed out at the closing price on 11 February.
CMCs decision follows its move last year to stop trading in stocks below a certain market capitalisation and reflects the firms switch to a new technology platform and its focus on core liquid markets.
It could be a very interesting day for the Aim market and Aim shares as the CFDs get closed out, Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said.
The closing of CFD trades will have an influence on the physical Aim market as providers of the financial instruments have to hedge the trades by holding the actual stocks to protect their positions.
Latif said as much as 50 per cent of Aim market positions could be held via CFDs.

I'll be happy when thecontracts become offical,one way or the other?

Latest report,
( AFP / February 10, 2011 5:59 p.m.)
Iraq: Kurdistan has exported 75,000 barrels
ARBIL (Iraq) - Iraqi Kurdistan has exported 75,000 barrels of oil since the beginning of the month, said Thursday the Prime Minister Barham Saleh in this region.

"75,000 barrels of crude were exported oil fields in Kurdistan, where the export has started on a trial basis earlier this month," he told reporters adding that he is a figure of export until Wednesday.

In an interview with AFP on Saturday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had said that central government had finally accepted the Kurdish contracts because the extraction of crude oil in Kurdistan is more complicated than the rest of Iraq.

"The oil ministry has accepted these contracts because the extraction technique is different in Kurdistan and Basra (south)," he said. "It takes more effort to Kurdistan to Basra, so it is closer to the surface."

"It is difficult to get service contracts in Kurdistan, but it's normal to have them in southern Iraq," he said.

Baghdad has long required service contracts such as those in force elsewhere in Iraq and the oil companies that pay to extract a barrel.

Now the Kurdistan has signed with foreign companies for contracts based on a share of profits from resource exploitation.

Kurdistan had stopped its oil exports 14 October 2009 due to a dispute with the central authorities in Baghdad on the payment of foreign companies that exploit the deposits.

( AFP / February 10, 2011 5:59 p.m.)