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.

high volumes continue

still ticking - good stuff

what a great day - this and blnx dropping - yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

and sorry to anyone already in blnx

hmmmm excellent http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201111101715dowjonesdjonline000641&title=exxon-mobil-signs-kurd-oilgas-exploration-contractsft

the city chatter good news is that apparently this agreement has clauses relating to the t/o of explorers in the region LOL!

more yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

looking at the 1 year chart, i would hazard that sp could still have good upside .....

agreed cynic

just passed + 20% so far - more on way

If majors are moving in ; good for Afren as well...sp is rising as well today...

If this is considered derisked then 200p is plausible...

no reason why not and that is still dirt cheap really

what a day - that 200 might be sooner than you think - like today lol!! not far to go

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

and the afternoon is still young

kerrrrrrrrrrrrrchinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggg

+30% coming :-)))))))))))))))))

Shahristani agrees to grant a license to a U.S. company to drill in Kurdistan
Hassan Hafidh and James Herron need to read this...


Dubai - Eastern November 10: high-level sources said in Baghdad that the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, Hussain al-Shahristani agreed that one of the big U.S. oil companies operating in southern Iraq, the signing of major agreements for oil exploration and export and investment in Iraq's Kurdistan .. . The sources said that it is part of the political agreements to improve relations between the KRG and the central government in Baghdad, adding that al-Shahristani, continued during the past few weeks, negotiations between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the company's large and committed themselves not to object \ advance approval of the agreement and the continuation of the company's work in southern and northern Iraq at a time .. and according to sources in the Iraqi Oil Ministry said al-Shahristani, has agreed to a U.S. company to buy shares in the field, "Moore Creek" in Kurdistan, in addition to access to exploration rights, investment and export.

http://www.rferl.org/content/baghdad_kurds_agree_on_oil_gas_bill/24388290.html

nice one niceone :-)) have a good weekend all

"BREAKING NEWS !!
By Joe Carroll
just found this on hegnar


Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq will recognize the validity of
oil-exploration contracts signed by the semi-autonomous Kurdish
regional authorities under terms of an agreement to be announced
this month, two people familiar with the talks said.
The deal, worked out between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
Kamil al-Maliki and Kurdistan Regional Government leader Barham
Salih during the past three weeks, ends the risk that foreign
oil producers such as Exxon Mobil Corp. would be stripped of
some oil-field projects as punishment for signing contracts in
the Kurdish-controlled north, the people said. They spoke on
condition of anonymity because the talks aren't public."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eba759d0-0c3f-11e1-8ac6-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1dQwkMZDm


...........Afren added 14.6 per cent to 85p, small-cap Petroceltic International rose 15.4 per cent higher at 7p and Gulf Keystone Petroleum lifted 25 per cent to 177p. The sharp moves encouraged bid speculation, with traders reporting talk that Gulf Keystone could attract an all-share offer from Hess Corporation or Vallares, Tony Haywards investment vehicle.....................


.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-11/iraq-to-recognize-kurdish-oil-contracts-with-foreign-explorers.html


Iraq to Recognize Kurdish Oil Deals With Foreign Explorers

By Joe Carroll
November 11, 2011 5:43 PM EST

Iraq, home to the worlds fourth- largest oil reserves, will recognize the validity of drilling contracts signed by the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional authorities under terms of an agreement to be announced this month, two people familiar with the talks said.

The deal, worked out between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamil al-Maliki and Kurdistan Regional Government leader Barham Salih during the past three weeks, ends the risk that foreign oil producers such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) would be stripped of some oil-field projects as punishment for signing contracts in the Kurdish-controlled north, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks arent public.

Hostility between the Baghdad-based central government and Kurdish authorities over how to oversee drilling and allocate revenue from the Persian Gulf nations vast crude reserves has simmered since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Relations reached a low point in 2009 when oil exports were temporarily suspended.

Exxon, the worlds biggest company by market value, recently signed contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government to explore six blocks in the countrys north, Michael Howard, an adviser to the regional authority, said earlier today in an e- mailed statement.

Differences Resolved

Exxon, whose worldwide crude output exceeded that of every member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries except Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela last year, is the latest Western entrant into Kurdistan. Others include Vallares Plc, the explorer founded by former BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, Afren Plc (AFR), Hess Corp. (HES), Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR), Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) and Repsol YPF SA. (REP)

Salih, a U.K.-educated engineer, spent about a week in Baghdad in late October conferring with al-Maliki about the long-standing oil dispute, the people said. The final outstanding differences were ironed out during the past two weeks, they said.

The announcement of Exxons Kurdish contracts boosted the shares of other explorers that are targeting the region. Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (GKP) surged 33 percent in London trading, while DNO International ASA (DNO) jumped 31 percent in Oslo.

An index of 10 Western oil companies with Kurdish exploration agreements rose as much as 3.3 percent today, the biggest intraday gain since Oct. 27.

Exxon was little changed at $79.64 at 5:20 p.m. in after- hours trading in New York. The shares have risen 9 percent this year.

Export Goals

Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Irving, Texas-based Exxon, declined to comment. John Porretto, a Marathon spokesman, said no one was immediately available for an interview.

Earlier today, the announcement about Exxons agreement in Kurdistan prompted Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, the head of the Baghdad-based Oil Ministrys licensing department, to say that the U.S. explorer could be kicked out of the giant West Qurna field project in the countrys south as retaliation.

Richard Quin, lead analyst for Middle East-North Africa energy research at Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., said the central government was unlikely to follow through on al-Ameedis threat.

It wouldnt be in Iraqs best interest to effectively rip up their contract, Quin said in a telephone interview from Edinburgh. That would be detrimental to Iraqs expansion of southern exports.

West Qurna

Exxon and partners Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Iraqs Oil Exploration Co. boosted production from the West Qurna field by 48 percent in the past year to 370,000 barrels a day.

The companies are injecting water into the field to flush more crude to the surface, under the terms of a 20-year development deal signed in January 2010.

Iraqs 115 billion barrels in estimated crude reserves are among the worlds largest, exceeded only by those of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran, according to BPs annual review of global energy reserves. Canadas oil sands are counted as a different category from so-called conventional resources in the BP statistics.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/battle-looms-between-us-oil-giant-and-iraq-6261056.html

high-stakes battle over Iraq's oil commenced yesterday after Baghdad threatened to throw ExxonMobil, one of America's most powerful companies, out of the country eight years after the US army toppled Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad was retaliating after the world's biggest company signed a landmark deal to explore for oil and gas in six blocks of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

The deal will see Exxon become the first "supermajor" to set up in the region as well as the first oil company to operate in both Iraq and the portion of Kurdistan that is situated in Iraq.

Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, director of the Iraqi oil ministry's contracts and licensing director, said yesterday he had warned Exxon of "dire consequences" last month if it signed these exploration deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

"Exxon Mobil could face disqualification and the termination of its contract with the oil ministry," to develop the West Qurna field in oil-rich southern Iraq, Mr Ameedi added.

A source at one of the supermajors said: "Baghdad has always said very vociferously that if anybody in Iraq signs a deal with Kurdistan they will get kicked out. We got quite a surprise when we found out that Exxon had gone ahead and done that and it will be interesting to see what happens."

Yesterday's threat dented hopes that Baghdad was close to formalising existing contracts in Iraqi Kurdistan as part of a broader agreement on oil revenues across the whole country. The move is likely to further discourage BP and Shell which both have operations in southern Iraq but no plans to move into Kurdistan.

Analysts said that both Exxon and the Iraq government were playing a high-stakes game, as Baghdad attempts to balance the need to grow its own oil industry with the desire to rein in the power of Kurdistan.

Samuel Ciszuk, an oil analyst at IHS Global Insight, said: "This deal is the worst possible headache for the Iraq government."

Mr Ciszuk added: "Exxon is developing one of the biggest oil projects in the south and is the lead on a huge water injection system that will be used by oil companies across the region. To kick Exxon out would be a very powerful statement because it would be would effectively derail most of its production boosting programme for a good year or two."

Phil Corbett, at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: "The temptation has become too great for Exxon to resist in effect Exxon is calling Baghdad's bluff, presumably believing that it won't lose its West Qurna project interest with a move into Kurdistan."

Iraq is presently producing about 2.8 million barrels a day but hopes to boost this to 12 million by 2017 a level which experts believe to be hugely ambitious, even with Exxon's contribution.

However, although Iraq is keen to tap the huge revenues that would flow from a surge in oil production, it is wary of Kurdistan making too much money from its oil industry because that would increase the region's power and, in turn, its claim for autonomy, Mr Ciszuk said.

Kurdistan is estimated to hold about 45 billion barrels of oil and up to 200,000 cubic feet of gas and a number of oil explorers including the latest venture of the former BP chief executive Tony Hayward have piled in to the region recently.