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.

GKP and a number of other successful E&P companies look to make tasty targets, but it's rare for anything to materialise

http://www.investegate.co.uk/gulf-keystone-petrol--gkp-/rns/update-on-move-to-official-list-of-the-lse/201309120700107946N/

Edging nearer to my buyback 200p

i've been watching (and waiting) too ..... there may well come a time in the near future when the stock gets oversold as stale bulls finally get out

Long way from being over sold at the moment. 2hr chart below, is what I'm using for my buyback..

took the plunge and topped up at 204.75 ...... arguably premature, but i don't mind sitting on these, as i do with AFR

Cynic - good luck with GKP - If only Kurdistan was more settled,
then also Genel would improve.

I sold out of AFR yesterday or day before at 148p and will probably buy back
in if I can around 139 / 142p - I made a packet as bought at a low about two / three months ago. It seems AFR is not a favourit of some, as Director salaries etc are high, which I think is having a drag on the price. I think they have Kurdistan interests for sale at present - if sold would make them very very cash rich -

I need to get back into market soon - ANTO ( Antofagasta ) are down today with copper price like KAZ ( Kazykhyms ) - I am wtching them closely, - do you have any recommendations - apart from BAO. I also like Ferrexpo, but it is a high risk high speed mover - bit like me really.

Benidorm is cloudy today with comfortable temperatures and many holiday makers seem to have left, and been replaced by middle aged couples. Most holiday makers here bye the way are Spanish, and not from UK as I understand is imagined

BAO????????
wouldn't touch them as an investment

haven't followed "proper" miners for a while, but if RIO and similar large iron ore producers are looking cheap, then that would be my inclination ...... world economies are picking up; de facto, stainless and carbon steel demand will increase

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/10305836/GKP-edges-closer-to-main-market.html


GKP edges closer to main market
There were more developments for followers of the oil explorer to digest.

The explorer won a key court case over the ownership of its Kurdistan assets


By Ben Martin
6:48PM BST 12 Sep 2013

There were even more developments, both positive and negative, for Gulf Keystone Petroleum investors to digest today in what had already been an eventful week for followers of the oil explorer.

The Kurdistan-focused company, currently one of the largest on the London Stock Exchange’s junior Aim market, said it had hired Deutsche Bank to help it make its move to the standard segment of the official list. The announcement came two days after the explorer, which is heavily traded by retail investors, triumphed in a key court case over the ownership of its lucrative Kurdistan assets. That win saw its shares surge.

GKP split its chairman and chief executive roles earlier this year in preparation for its long-awaited transition to the main market that it intends to complete by the end of 2013.

Once a standard main market listing is achieved, the plan is for the explorer to apply for a premium listing, which would make the group eligible for inclusion in the high–profile FTSE indices that are tracked by large institutional investors. The premium segment is subject to even more stringent regulatory requirements than the standard listing, which itself is more rigorous than Aim.

However, the long-running legal dispute over Kurdistan has served to slow GKP’s move to the premium segment of the main market. The group also had to deal with a corporate governance dispute with one of its largest shareholders during the summer.


Still, overshadowing the progress made today on its main market listing was a cut to “underweight” by HSBC’s well-followed oil and gas analyst Peter Hitchens, which helped push the shares down 6 to 206½p. He lowered his recommendation on valuation grounds in the wake of the rally experienced by GKP following its legal victory. Mr Hitchens has drawn the attention of GKP investors in the past. When he issued an “underweight” recommendation on GKP in March last year – knocking the company sharply lower – some punters said they would boycott the bank.

As well as the downgrade, there was also speculation today of a fairly large seller of the explorer who was thought to have weighed on the shares.

Martin Waller The Times

Published at 12:01AM, September 13 2013

The Gulf Keystone share price tells you all you need to know about the events of this summer. The price is normally volatile, but it has remained within a reasonably narrow bound as the company failed to fight off an attempt by institutions to put four of their people on the board and then, this week, won a three-year court case over the ownership of its Shaikan field in Iraqi Kurdistan.

This tells us two things. One, that no one really thought, as I have intimated, that the court case had much chance. Second, that the long-term view of Gulf Keystone has more to do with when, and not if, it is bought by one of the oil majors.

The company is on target to reach production of 40,000 barrels of oil a day by the end of the year from Shaikan, which may contain as much as a third of the province’s reserves. By that stage the pipeline will be complete to allow exports to begin.

Yesterday the company announced the appointment of Deutsche Bank to handle the move from AIM to the main market, a process delayed by the court action and other factors.

There are two views on Gulf Keystone. The shares are up by 12.5 per cent this week, after yesterday’s 6p fall to 206½p. You can take profits, as advised by a note from Westhouse Securities this week. Or you can stick around to await that expected takeover; though investors have been disappointed before. I am not convinced that Deutsche will see much in the way of fees from this one.

End

MGW @ VSA comment..

"Gulf Keystone

Time to round-up a busy and highly successful week for GKP, total victory in the court case has not just cleared the way for substantial progress but opened up the vista of being a genuine bid candidate. Following the win, GKP moved quickly to appoint a bank to assist with arduous task of moving to the main market, another action that will put upward on the share price as institutions who had previously considered the company to be not of investible quality.

All in all I tend to feel that although the price of the shares has risen from 128p only four months ago to 206p now there is a lot more to go for, on a shorter and longer term timeframe. Our target of 480p still stands and longer term, with more work on Shaikan completed, I feel that the company is going to be a target but holders need not expect that to necessarily be the driver, it should and could go that far under its own steam."

http://www.cdr-news.co.uk/categories/litigation/featured/sword-in-the-stone-for-clifford-chance
The full judgement is with the lawyers involved in the case and is expected to be made public in early October. The cost hearing and any application for permission to appeal have been adjourned.

Is it now time for Excalibur to leave the sword in the stone?

Despite a devastating court defeat, CDR understands that the company is considering all legal options, including an attempt to return the case to arbitration. “There is the possibility of appeals and spin-off actions,” says a source close to the case.

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I'm hoping it's a lot of noise,something i thought might happen?

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where's that fat lady?

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Danny Fortson Published: 15 September 2013

Gulf Keystone

THE clock is ticking for investors in Gulf Keystone Petroleum. The £1.8bn oil explorer enjoyed the second biggest moment in its history last week when a judge threw out a claim by Rex Wempen, a former US Green Beret, that he was owed 30% of its prized reservoir in Kurdistan, northern Iraq.

The verdict sent the share price soaring by as much as a quarter before ending the week at 210p — a 12% jump. That victory was surpassed only by the company’s discovery of the field in question, called Shaikan, in 2009.

The find made Gulf Keystone. Now there is no question over who it belongs to, the company is in an interesting position.

To fully develop Shaikan will cost billions. It’s the type of project an Exxon Mobil would develop. For a tiny operator such as Gulf Keystone, it’s a much bigger ask.

The company has long been seen as a takeover target, but there have been two very large obstacles. One was the court case. The other was Todd Kozel, the chief executive who angered investors for years with his outlandish pay packages. An investor rebellion this year led to five new directors being appointed to rein him in, including Simon Murray, recently of Glencore, as chairman.

Gulf Keystone is more attractive than ever. But it won’t be easy for a suitor to waltz away with the company. Kozel is known to have very high — some would say un- realistic — price expectations.

End

=======

As well as production and OIP figures expected on Thursday and for those who are wondering what progress report of Sh-7(spudded 3 months ago) might be,here are some SH-1 updates to compare.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/gulf-keystone-petrol--gkp-/rns/well-update/200904280919582712R/



http://www.investegate.co.uk/gulf-keystone-petrol--gkp-/rns/significant-oil-discovery-in/200908060700179678W/

ps we are now using a more powerful rig

A small piece in The Observer on the Businee pages.

People
"A good week for Todd Kozel, chief executive of Gulf Keystone Petroleum. After a three-year court battle, the company saw off a claim for 30% of its oilfield assets in Kurdistan by Excalibur Ventures, a US business run by an ex-special- forces' soldier. Gulf, worth nearly £2bn, is preparing to move from Aim to the main market, but could now be snapped up by an oil major."

Wrong of course on the amount of the assets at stake but telling more people about a possible takeover will do no harm to long term holders like myself. Have held through thick and thin since 2009 and added along the way.