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.

Westhouse says SELL...

08 Aug 2013
Gulf Keystone... GKP
Westhouse Securities
Sell
Target 155.00
Initiates/Starts

I wouldn't take any notice of those muppets.

Westhouse Research downgraded its "neutral" stance to "sell" on oil exploration group Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP). The broker says that the possibility of a takeover remains the main driver of value for the shares but does not see such a transaction in the near term. Moreover, In Westhouse's view, the political uncertainty in Iraq could impact operations going forward and the current share price does not provide any upside to compensate for the risk associated with it. The shares inched up by 1.25p to 170.25p.

Hoping for news of 1st production in the coming week,to build on a reasonable week
after the isa admission?

Yep hoping for news as well.Wondering why it's been delayed.
We close in on the Court case judgement as well...sooner that's over the better.

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Gulf Keystone Petroleum

The most bought stock through The Share Centre was Gulf Keystone Petroleum, an oil exploration and production company that concentrates on Iraqi Kurdistan. The company claims it has 19 billion barrels of oil in the region.

It has been winding down operations in Algeria since 2009 and is currently concluding its exit from that country.

GKP has recently been embroiled in a dispute with Tom Dobell’s team on the M&G Recovery fund, which is a major shareholder in the company.

M&G has criticised corporate governance at the company and sought to fight the re-election of certain directors, proposing “independent” alternatives instead. This approach was objected to by the chairman of GKP’s nominations committee, Field Marshal Lord Guthrie, former chief of the defence staff.

The dispute has its roots in an on-going power struggle for control of the Bermuda-based firm.

Broken through the 200dma,looking bullish,a lot of positivity around at present.1st production confirmation would help this momentum, 1 month away from CC judgement.

Creeping up,183p being quoted.

http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-MR7GMC6S972P01-74L2KDADPAKD4AK6FC3KHGR96G

Brian SwintAug 14, 2013 8:15 pm ET

Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Todd Kozel’s adventure in Kurdistan may soon pay off.

The American chief executive officer of Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. has dealt with angry shareholders, an ex-business partner’s lawsuit and byzantine politics for six years pursuing billions of barrels of crude in the northern Iraqi region. Now, his $2.5 billion exploration venture is a being called a takeover target as the world’s biggest oil companies look for untapped fields.

Kurdistan is on the verge of an oil boom. The semi- autonomous region of 5.2 million people is completing a pipeline for direct crude exports to Turkey by the end of the year, bypassing central government authorities in Baghdad. The region’s reserves are as much as 45 billion barrels, the local administration estimates, enough to meet U.S. demand for almost seven years.

“Exports are what we’ve been waiting for since 2007, so the pipeline is very big and instrumental for a company like Gulf Keystone,” Kozel, 46, said in a telephone interview. “We are a public company, and consolidation is the next phase in Kurdistan. But that’s not in our plans now.”
Offers could come soon because the new pipeline may boost the value of the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company by 40 percent, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. Moreover, a ruling is expected within weeks in a London lawsuit brought by a former associate claiming 30 percent of the company’s main asset, Kozel said.

Gulf Keystone’s legal dispute has held back its performance against peers this year. The shares have gained 1.6 percent, compared with advances of more than 25 percent for Genel Energy Plc, WesternZagros Resources Ltd. and DNO International ASA.

Giant Field
“Gulf Keystone screens quite well as a takeover target once the risk around the court case is removed,” said James Gardiner, an analyst at Peel Hunt in London who gives the stock a buy rating. “They’re sitting on a giant oil field that wouldn’t look out of place in a major’s portfolio.”
Pittsburgh-born Kozel formed his first oil company in 1988 when he was 21 years old. He co-founded Gulf Keystone in 2001 with help from private equity funds from the Middle East. Gulf Keystone started with licenses in North Africa, though it’s now focused on four blocks in Kurdistan and plans to exit its remaining field in Algeria.

Kozel said the company, which has spent $780 million in Kurdistan so far, will be able to fund the development of its fields with cash flow generated once production starts at an initial rate of 40,000 barrels a day this year.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government is very happy with our plans,” Kozel said. “We can develop Shaikan and our other fields better and possibly faster than others might.”

Shaikan Discovery
Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. or an Asian national oil company are candidates to snap up the company, said Dougie Youngson, an analyst at VSA Capital Ltd. in London. Gulf Keystone’s main asset, the Shaikan discovery, one of Kurdistan’s biggest ever, will produce 250,000 barrels a day by 2018, according to the company. That would increase Iraq’s total production by about 8 percent.

Other explorers in Kurdistan such as Afren Plc, DNO, Petroceltic International Plc and WesternZagros may also become takeover targets, according to HSBC.
“There will be a wave of consolidation,” said Peter Hitchens, an analyst at HSBC in London. “All of the small players are potentially targets.”

Afren and Petroceltic declined to comment on takeover speculation. Officials at DNO and WesternZagros weren’t available for comment.

Direct exports should strengthen Kurdistan in a dispute over revenue-sharing in which it has struggled to get royalties owed from exports sent through pipelines controlled by the central government in Baghdad.

Special Forces
Kozel must overcome his legal difficulties before a deal is on the cards. Rex Wempen, who served in the U.S. Special Forces in the 1990s, claimed in a trial that began in October that his work led to the Shaikan find.

Last month, Kozel quelled a challenge from investors who said the company wasn’t moving fast enough to upgrade its London listing to the main market and attract more institutional investors. The board appointed four independent directors recommended by the M&G Recovery Fund, a disgruntled shareholder.

Gulf Keystone last year said it would issue 10 million new shares to give to executives if the company or its assets are bought, forcing it to say days later it wasn’t planning a sale after shares rose.

For now, Gulf Keystone says it’s focused on developing Shaikan. Achieving its targets may prove too expensive, said Peel Hunt’s Gardiner.

“Bringing a discovery of this size to meaningful levels of production will require hundreds of millions of dollars of investment,” Gardiner said. “There are a number of options available, but uncertainty remains over access to this level of capital for a company of this size.”
--With assistance from Kit Chellel and Matthew Campbell in London. Editors: Will Kennedy, Todd Whit

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324139404579013090660526008.html

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a welcome patch of blue among the storm clouds

http://utahpeoplespost.com/2013/08/goldman-sachs-group-inc-downgrades-gulf-keystone-to-neutral-gkp/


Gulf Keystone (LON:GKP) was downgraded by equities researchers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Analyst Ratings Network.com reports. They currently have a GBX 265 ($4.11) target price on the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s target price suggests a potential upside of 39.88% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Analysts at Westhouse Securities initiated coverage on shares of Gulf Keystone in a research note to investors on Thursday, August 8th. They set a “sell” rating and a GBX 155 ($2.40) price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Fox-Davies Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Gulf Keystone in a research note to investors on Friday, June 21st. They now have a GBX 350 ($5.43) price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at WH Ireland reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Gulf Keystone in a research note to investors on Thursday, June 20th. They now have a GBX 315 ($4.89) price target on the stock.

One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 238.75 ($3.70).

Gulf Keystone (LON:GKP) opened at 185.50 on Friday. Gulf Keystone has a 52 week low of GBX 126.31 and a 52 week high of GBX 260.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 223.0 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 211.2.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited (LON:GKP) is a holding compa

Categorized | Oil & Gas
GKP Rises on Takeover Rumours
Posted on 16 August 2013. Tags: GKP, Gulf Keystone, takeover
GKP Rises on Takeover Rumours
By John Lee.
Shares in Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) have gained around 10 percent this week on rumours of a takeover.
Bloomberg reports that, as the world’s biggest oil companies look for untapped fields, the company is sitting on a giant oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan that wouldn’t look out of place in a major’s portfolio.
With the KRG completing a pipeline for direct crude exports to Turkey by the end of the year, exports could be set to boom.
Chief Executive Todd Kozel (pictured), told Bloomberg:
“Exports are what we’ve been waiting for since 2007, so the pipeline is very big and instrumental for a company like Gulf Keystone.”
But added:
“We are a public company, and consolidation is the next phase in Kurdistan. But that’s not in our plans now.”
(Source: Bloomberg)

hxxp://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2013/08/16/gkp-rises-on-takeover-rumours/

finally becoming interesting here - will gkp ever reach the dizzy heights of £10 + perhaps & multibag of current levels

Todd Kozel, the CEO of Kurdistan oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), has certainly had more than his fair share of controversy over the last couple of years.

During a divorce court battle with his wife, Ashely, she alleged that he had hidden $150 million in Gulf Keystone shares in offshore trusts. Court depositions also talked of Kozel’s visits to the Windmill and Bourse Restaurant strip clubs and lavish spending on his clients!

Now, it is the court case with Rex Wempen and Excalibur Ventures, which started last week that has reignited the controversy surrounding Kozel and Gulf Keystone. The Sunday Times ran an interesting take on the case yesterday, which summarises many of the issues being considered by the court in this complex piece of litigation.

Investors were hoping for an out-of-court settlement before the case started last Wednesday but this proved to be wishful thinking and the battle lines are now drawn to decide whether Excalibur’s assertion that it is entitled to 30% of Gulf Keystone’s significant oil assets in Kurdistan following the Shaikan discoveries is anything more than hindsight litigation.

Certainly the court case has been a drag on sentiment for Gulf Keystone for some time and has been part of the reason for the halving of the share price from over £4 in early 2012, as well as fading takeover hopes. The successful issue of $275 million of convertible bonds last week seems to indicate that investors are comfortable with the risks involved around the court case however. Make no mistake thought that if the case is lost, it could be an ugly period for Gulf Keystone and I’m sure Todd Kozel is hoping this sorry affair will be decided once and for all by the British courts.

Yesterday’s Sunday Times article is as follows:

WHEN the email pinged into his inbox, Rex Wempen’s heart sank. The former Green Beret had spent 18 months putting together a huge oil deal in Kurdistan, northern Iraq. It had finally been agreed, but as he read the message, the terrible truth struck him: his partner had cut him out.

On that November morning five years ago, of course, the billions the deal would generate were just a dream. Nobody knew how much — if any — oil lay beneath the craggy hills of Iraq’s forgotten north.

Today, the answer is clear: a lot. More, in fact, than anyone could have imagined. And arguably nobody has done better out of the Kurdish oil boom than Todd Kozel, Wempen’s former partner.

Kozel, a bluff Texan, runs Gulf Keystone Petroleum, which with a market value of £1.8 billion is one of the largest companies on AIM — thanks entirely to the enormous finds in Kurdistan.

Wempen claims that Kozel would not have struck it rich if he had not brought him the opportunity. Tomorrow, the opening arguments in Wempen v Kozel, one of Britain’s biggest corporate legal battles, will be heard in the High Court in London.

At stake is what Wempen claims he is contractually owed — a 30% stake of Gulf Keystone’s Kurdish assets, worth at least £950m.But the 12-week trial will not only determine who owns how much of Gulf Keystone. It will also provide a glimpse into the chaos Kurdistan unleashed when it flung open its doors to western firms, who fought tooth and nail for a piece of an old-fashioned oil boom.

According to court documents, Wempen and Kozel met in December 2005, two-and-a-half years after America invaded Iraq. By then, Wempen was an old hand in Iraq. He had retired from the military in the 1990s but re-enlisted after the September 11 attacks, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. After he left the services for a second time, he stayed on in Baghdad as a consultant.

As the city descended into violence, he moved to Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan which, by comparison, was peaceful. The semi-autonomous region had agreed to stay in a larger federal Iraq, but wanted greater control over its destiny. That meant its oil.

Generous terms were offered to entice explorers but none of the industry’s heavyweights took the bait. The government in Baghdad disagreed with the Kurds’ interpretation of their powers and threatened to blacklist any company that dealt with them.

For those brave, or foolish enough to try, Kurdistan was a golden opportunity, but Wempen was no oil man. A contact put him in touch with Ali Al-Qabandi, a director at Gulf Keystone and Kozel’s right-hand man. In court papers, Kozel admits that until he met Wempen, he had no inkling that Kurdistan was about to open up. Just two months later, in February 2006, the two men signed the “collaboration agreement” that is at the heart of their dispute.

Kozel had started in the oil business with his brothers, running Texas Keystone. He listed Gulf Keystone in London, but in the oil world, it was a tiddler.

Kurdistan was a ticket to the big time. The partners agreed to seek oil concessions there. Wempen’s firm, Excalibur Ventures, would be entitled to 30%, while Texas Keystone had rights to 70%. Crucially, Kozel had the right to transfer some of Texas Keystone’s stake to Gulf Keystone. In June that year, they flew to Kurdistan to meet Ashti Hawrami, the oil minister.

According to Gulf Keystone’s defence, the meeting did not go well. Hawrami told Wempen he had “created an unfavourable impression among a number of individuals within the [Kurdistan government] as a result of his failure to deliver promises previously made”.

Kozel did not cut Wempen loose, though. On the contrary, they continued to work together over the next year.

The partners zeroed in on the Shaikan field, and by July 2007 a deal was close. According to court documents, Gulf Keystone sent Wempen an email containing a draft production contract for Shaikan. It named Texas Keystone, Gulf Keystone and Excalibur as parties to the deal. On October 9, with negotiations reaching the final stages, Texas Keystone sent Wempen an updated version.

Less than four weeks later, on November 6, Kozel announced the deal to the world. Gulf Keystone was named lead partner in the consortium that had won exclusive rights to Shaikan. Excalibur was not mentioned.

Gulf Keystone argues that Wempen should not have been surprised by Excalibur’s exclusion. This is because on August 6, 2007, Kurdistan passed its first oil law. It required developers to prove they were foreign, had the financial capability to proceed and a track record of “good corporate citizenship”.

Gulf Keystone alleges that Excalibur — that is, Wempen and his younger brother Eric, a tax attorney who worked at UBS, the investment bank — fulfilled none of the above.

Kurdistan’s new rules, in effect, disqualified Excalibur. What’s more, Kozel claims he was told to get rid of Wempen. Kozel says that he met Hawrami, “in or around late July or early August [2007]” at a London hotel, and the minister told him that, “he would need to submit a [contract] without Excalibur’s name on it … for the concession to be granted”.

Kozel has another line of defence. The original “collaboration agreement” was between Texas Keystone, where Kozel owned a one-third stake, and Excalibur.

When Kozel unveiled the Shaikan deal, it was Gulf Keystone — not Texas Keystone — that took the biggest share, with 75%. Mol, the Hungarian oil group, had 20%, while Texas Keystone took a 5% interest. Though its share of the costs would be covered by Gulf Keystone.

Why did Texas Keystone — the prime signatory to the venture with Excalibur — end up with a small, passive stake? Apparently, it decided that the “risk of participating … outweighed the rewards”, according to documents filed with the court.

Kozel, who is executive chairman and a shareholder of Gulf Keystone, acknowledges that staff from both companies worked on the negotiations that led to the Shaikan deal. He insists, though, that Texas Keystone was “entirely separate from and independent of Gulf Keystone”.

Texas Keystone simply had a change of heart, he has argued. The deal was too risky. It was not, however, for Gulf Keystone and as a separate entity it had no obligations to Excalibur. So goes the argument.

It will be up to the judge to decide whether that reasoning holds water. The case has hung like a cloud over Gulf Keystone for years. This week Wempen, who has stayed in the shadows, will finally have his day in court this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23745201

China to open consulate in Kurdistan

Erbil: The People's Republic of China is expected to open its first diplomatic mission in the Kurdistan Region by the end of this year. Currently there are 27 foreign and diplomatic representations in Erbil, including four of the five permanent United Nations Security Council members. The opening of a consulate-general was discussed at a meeting today between China's Ambassador to Iraq, Mr Ni Jian, and the Kurdistan Regional Government's Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir. They also discussed China's sport initiatives and the continued growth in business ties between China and Kurdistan. The Chinese ambassador reaffirmed his country's interest in establishing a strong diplomatic presence in the Kurdistan Region to promote political, economic and cultural ties. He also spoke about the need to enhance links between educational institutions, creating sports initiatives and promoting people-to-people ties. He said, "The number of visas we have issued in Baghdad shows more and more people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region want to visit China to promote business ties."...krg.org

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23745201

"One question is, why this sudden rush for the Iraqi border in this remote corner of Syria? In many areas, the Turkish border is much closer, but the Turkish authorities seem to be much less receptive to new arrivals than they were in the past.

Conversely, the leadership in Iraqi Kurdistan seems to have decided to play a more prominent role in dealing with the fallout from the Syrian crisis."

On Friday, UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva: "The factors allowing this sudden movement are not fully clear to us."