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.

Starting to wake up again

A well update should be due, they must have hit the 600m level by now and we might get an RNS along the lines of "oil has been encountered at the first horizon and drilling is progressing well", now if we get that : back to 20p within an instant !.

Seems to be a lot of interest in Kurdistan, GKP are drilling in a country in demand for oil exploration.
Notice Sey Kurdish partner Addax has been approached with up to $8bn takeover offer.

required- that would be good

Some decent buying near close?

Business Financial Newswire
"Independent oil and gas explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum posts an after tax loss of $59m for the year to the end of December - up from $29.9m last time.

Net cash outflow from oil and gas production operations after general and administrative expenses was $12.5m (2007: $15.9m).

And it says that despite the lower interest income of $1.6m (2007: $4.6m) this was more than offset by lower cash costs of operations.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year were $33.6m - down from $88.3m in 2007.

Chairman and chief executive Todd Kozel said: "We are a much stronger company operationally and strategically than a year ago.

"Realising the funding to deliver the opportunities within the company's portfolio remains a priority and a range of realistic funding solutions are being pursued."

Some bullish comments from Kozel re the current Kurdistan drill

thought the numbers were very unexciting to say the least, so cut and took a smallish loss

"Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd (AIM: GKP), today (24.06.09) announces the following progress update on the Shaikan-1 exploration well, Shaikan block, the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.

The Shaikan-1 well was spudded on 27 April with a planned TD, pending actual drilling results, of 3000 to 3500 metres. The range of TD depths reflects the under explored nature of the area and the lack of nearby correlation wells.

Following the setting of 20' surface casing at about 100 metres, the well plan called for the drilling of an 8-1/2' pilot hole down to the 13-3/8' intermediate casing point. This decision was based on a number of operational considerations. Primarily, the fractured nature of many of the shallow geological formations and the resulting high likelihood that mud returns would be lost and thus much of the interval would have to be drilled without the information normally gained from drilling mud returns. Under these conditions it is more prudent to drill a smaller, easier to control pilot hole as a first step.

Much of this section was, indeed, drilled with little or no drilling mud returns. In addition, consistent with the active oil seeps in the area, much of the pore space in these shallow sections was filled with tar and very heavy, dead oil. At depths below 1350 metres the well began to encounter lighter, live oil shows.

Subsequently, it was decided to log the entire open hole from 100m down to 1510 metres. However, swelling shales prevented the logging tools from getting below 1000 metres. Reverting to the planned well program, it was decided to open the pilot hole to the full 17-1/2' diameter necessary for the running of the intermediate casing.

Currently the well is drilling 17-1/2' hole at about 1100 metres towards the planned intermediate casing point at 1350 metres. Oil shows have increased significantly as the larger hole approaches the deeper portions of the pilot hole. After setting the 13-3/8' casing at 1350 metres, GKP plans to log the remaining portion of the open hole down to 1510 metres. It is this lower portion of open hole that has shown indications of porosity and from which we believe the oil inflow originates. Pending log results, a limited flow test may be warranted.

After evaluation of this unexpected shallow zone, the well will be drilled to the next casing point as planned. The primary zones of interest for this well are still below the depth of current activities. Plans are to reach the final TD of 3000 to 3500 metres, pending actual well results and any future testing, during September."

Very promising so far with some oil discovered in a shallow zone,...that's the thing with Iraq : there is oil there and loads of it !.

Just imagine what the sp will do if they hit something like Heritage oil...dream on required field....must say I have a shed load of these !....but so far so good with multiple horizons to be targeted !.

Sp up 20% this morning, but would expect that to drift back a little & that may be time to buy in/top up. Initial drilling results look very promising, imo, but a long way to go & nothing certain 'til late aug. GKP are still loss making & a strike would certainly help the balance sheet.

looks good for 20p by the end of the week.

Well they have discovered some oil so at the least we could have a smallish producing well.....it does look promising but like you say Harrycat there is a long way to go but at the moment : this summer, this company looks like having the most interesting drilling campaign going, and in the event of failure to find deep oil they will probably drill again somewhere on their license......perhaps I'm too optimistic but we could have a gem like HOIL here !.

Loads of buys from what I can see here...the only cloud on the horizon that I can see is this round of license awards coming up.....as you never know where you are with these Iraqis...I keep on saying this but : Iraq should be one of the wealthiest countries in the world and if that nutcase of saddam hussain hadn't attacked Iran and Kuwait and messed the Allies around it would be today without a doubt the wealthiest, enjoying tremendous prosperity...fancy attacking Iran...really nuts ...!.

ADDAX is being taken over by the chinese READ RNS what price GKP and HOIL?

It can only help the sp upwards that's for sure.

Encouraging drill rns.

Good bounce today, perhaps some news on the way.

I'm in up to my neck with this stock....too overweight you could say...now they really depend on a discovery here....the fact that they are dumping Algeria in favour of Kurdistan makes me think that they might be on the verge of success.