2015 Results Announcement
Gulf Keystone Petroleum, a leading independent operator and producer in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, today announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2015.
Highlights to 31 December 2015 and post reporting period
Operational
· Gulf Keystone's operations in the Kurdistan Region remained safe and secure throughout 2015. The Company achieved a milestone of one million man hours without a lost time injury in early March 2016
· 2015 gross production of 11.1 million barrels of oil, an increase of 71% on 2014, an average of 30,500 barrels of oil per day ("bopd"), with no formation water
· The maximum sustained production achieved at Shaikan was 39,773 bopd in September 2015. Intermittent restrictions around offtake and export infrastructure availability resulted in some periods of reduced production throughout the year
· Access to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan export pipeline achieved in July 2015 securing improved netbacks, reduced transportation costs and significantly lower HSSE exposure
· Shaikan production for the period from 1 January to 16 February 2016 averaged 37,080 bopd before exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan export pipeline were temporarily suspended until 11 March 2016, when the Company's crude oil export operations resumed and continue at c. 37,000-39,000 bopd today
· The Competent Person's Report ("CPR") update in October 2015 increased gross 2P Proven and Probable Reserves at the Shaikan field by 114% to 639 million barrels and the management's view remains aligned with the October 2015 CPR
· Shaikan Field Development Plan ("FDP") has been updated and submitted in draft form to the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Natural Resources ("KRG" and "MNR") for review in late 2015
· In parallel, investment plans have been developed which bridge to and are complementary to the FDP and have the potential to maintain the current nameplate capacity of 40,000 bopd with the option to increase production up to 55,000 bopd. These interim investments will require review by MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas plc., our partner in the Shaikan Block, and approval by the MNR
Payments
· The Company generated gross cash receipts of $92.8 million ($74.2 million net to GKP) in 2015. This is made up of $26 million gross prepayment for export deliveries by truck to the Turkish coast received in February 2015, $21.7 million gross received under the direct contract with a domestic offtaker for similar export sales and $45 million gross received from the KRG from September to December 2015 for oil exported through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline
· In January and March 2016, the Company received two further payments from the KRG of $15 million gross each
· On 1 February 2016, the KRG issued a press release committing to a regular payment cycle to international oil companies for oil exports based upon monthly contractual entitlements in line with the terms of the relevant Production Sharing Contract (PSC)
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