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.

me too ..... i'm sure there's a lot of y/e profit-taking, and one either lives with it or chucks in the towel - for me the former

Patience it will evenually,predicted to bounce off 250p? Fully loaded myself,otherwise i'd be topping up.

Worth considering this weeks news flow and info.

We have the presentation,which says BB is a discovery and at LEAST 16 Billions barells of oil,over all the blocks.
TK and his team spent a week in Hong Kong(China),revealed by Court records.
And the EXIT Event Awards RNS.
Quite a possitive week imo,the negatives for me the political situation and the
Excalibar claim, reasons why i'm sticking with what i've got.

Director dealing, means no news close.

Arabian Oil and Gas.com

KRG threatens Baghdad with export shutdown
by Patrick Osgood on Mar 26, 2012

The Kurdish regional government (KRG) is escalating its spat with Baghdad over oil payments today, issuing a statement confirming that supplies to the Iraqi export network have been cut by half to 50,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).

A drastic cut from the figure of 90-100,000 bpd given as recently as 15 March has been justified by the KRG on the basis that around $1.5 billion is already owed to the region under an agreement struck between the central and regional government, which is needed to fund oilfield development.

“Because of the production costs and the re-investments needed by the producing companies in the Region, the MNR has reluctantly decided to reduce exports to 50,000 bpd with a view to possible cessation in one month unless payments are forthcoming,” the spokesman for Ashti Hawrami’s Natural Resources Ministry says in the statement. The region’s commitment to Baghdad under the 2012 central budget is 175,000 bpd.

both sides still think they're in the hussars = so much sabre-rattling

Gulf Keystone director sells quarter of a million shares
Mehdi Varzi, a Non-Executive Director of Gulf Keystone, the AIM-listed oil and gas explorer, has sold a quarter of a million shares.

Varzi, who has been on the board since 2008, sold 257,347 shares at 254.17p each for a total of £654,099.

Earlier this month the firm reported that the testing programme for the Shaikan-4 appraisal well remains ongoing, with six out of seven planned tests completed to date. So far aggregate flow rates in excess of 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day have been achieved.

By Ben Van Heuvelen of Iraq Oil Report
Published March 29, 2012 The Kurdistan region's refinery expansion plan is giving it a buffer against renewed oil export disputes with Baghdad and providing a much needed revenue stream for companies investing in oil fields.

The foreign companies operating under controversial production sharing contracts awarded by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) get around $60 per barrel under a domestic sales deal, sources said.

This revenue reduces the KRG's reliance on Baghdad, strengthening the semi-autonomous region...

sorry have no more.,.

Exxon kicked out of the May auctions for being involved in Kurdistan.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVN0C2ZGem0GdbM_80BxExQ4GPEQ?docId=695787f9e29d45b996055acc57878260


Throws the licenses in the north all into a mess again and shows the Iraqi Oil Ministry means business and its not perhaps going to let the Kurds get away with what they are doing perhaps.

Kurdy stocks all going down it seems. Certainly throws the chances of any payments for exports totally out of the window for the future.

No wonder Mehdi Varzi sold 3 weeks ago, he knew this was coming. SELL.

and how do you square that with your post on AFR then?
i'm afraid there will be many vicissitudes (emu's word for the week!) connected with stocks in this region, but eventually the berks in baghdad will come to an accommodation with the nerds (turds?) in kurdistan

cynic all bets will be off if there is a civil war.Not a country worth investing in too much high political risk.

but then you think TLW is a crock of shit too, but so far i don't think you have told us what (quality) oilies you and your merry men have put money to

cynic try to be realistic the sunnis are not coperating with the dominant shia so ultimately the country will break up after a civil war.

all sorts of internecine strife is both potential and even actual in a number of serious oil producing countries ..... nigeria is a prime candidate, and certainly yemen, though their production is on a much smaller scale

I would imagine significant fall out to Kurdistan exposed companies if Exxon do cancel the contracts. They can play this now, if they want, by asking what they get in return for canceling the Kurd contracts, what will the IOM offer to them ? If the IOM offers them something nice I am sure they will perhaps happily cancel their Kurdish contracts.


http://www.kurdsat.tv/news.php?id=634&type=kurdistan


............Exxon last month told the government last month that it froze its deals with the KRG, but the government wants the deals completely canceled.

"We want more action from Exxon," said Sabah Abdul Kadhim, deputy of the Iraqi Oil Ministry's petroleum contracts. "We want Exxon to cancel its Kurdistan deals."

Abdul Kadhim warned that Exxon could face further action if it didn't terminate its deals with Kurdistan. He didn't explain what action would be taken, but he is thought to be referring to West Qurna-1..............

Worth a read - when you have spare time as its rather long.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/Middle%20East%20North%20Africa/Iraq%20Syria%20Lebanon/Iraq/120-iraq-and-the-kurds-the-high-stakes-hydrocarbons-gambit.pdf

.

More good news:
23 April 2012



Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (AIM: GKP)

("Gulf Keystone" or "the Company")



Shaikan-4 Well Test Achieves 24,000 bopd



The Company has completed the testing programme for the Shaikan-4 deep appraisal well, drilled 6 km to the west of the Shaikan-1 discovery well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.



The extensive well testing programme commenced in December 2011 after Shaikan-4 had drilled to a total depth ("TD") of 3,387 metres. Preliminary results of the Shaikan-4 drilling operations were a significant contribution to the new data used by Dynamic Global Advisors (DGA), independent Houston-based exploration consultants, to calculate an addition of over 3 billion barrels of gross oil-in-place volumes for the Shaikan discovery announced in November 2011.



In the course of the Shaikan-4 well testing programme the Company has conducted seven well tests in all target formations in the Triassic (Kurre Chine-A, Kurre Chine-B and Kurre Chine-C), Jurassic (Butmah and Lower and Upper Sargelu) and Cretaceous (Chia Gara). Additionally, the Company has performed an acidization and retest of the Sargelu formation interval as part of the well completion process.



As a result of the Shaikan-4 well testing programme, the Company has achieved total maximum aggregate flow rates of 24,000 barrels of oil per day ("bopd").



Following the Company's decision not to test portions of the well that appeared to be high quality oil reservoir on the electric logs, and where proven commercial flow rates had been achieved by testing previous wells on the Shaikan block, most of the tests have been conducted in zones which looked marginal on the well logs.



Within the total maximum aggregate number of 24,000 bopd, flow rates of about 4,500 bopd have been achieved in a new zone in the Jurassic Upper Sargelu, previously untested by the Company, and producible oil has been established in the Cretaceous Chia Gara for the first time, albeit at relatively low rates (130 bopd).



Following the conclusion of the Shaikan-4 well testing programme, the well is being completed as a producer and will be tied to the Shaikan-1 and Shaikan-3 Extended Well Test facility.



The Discoverer-4 rig will move to the drilling location of the Sheikh Adi-2 exploration well, north of the Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well, which is expected to spud in June 2012.

Gulf Keystone is the Operator of the Shaikan block with a working interest of 75 per cent and is partnered with Kalegran Ltd. (a 100 per cent subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc.) and Texas Keystone Inc., which have working interests of 20 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.



John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone's Chief Operating Officer commented:



"Shaikan-4 is our best well drilled to date in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in terms of the total net pay. These results are particularly impressive because we decided to focus most of our testing on multiple zones of the reservoir, which looked marginal on the well logs. This was done in order to assess the actual log properties required to have a viable producing interval. We have been pleasantly surprised by achieving good flow rates in a new zone in the Upper Sargelu in the Jurassic and finding producible oil in the Chia Gara in the Cretaceous for the first time. In addition, we have more than doubled our initial flow rates in the tested Sargelu interval to over 14,000 bopd following its acidization and retest.



The total maximum aggregate flow rates of 24,000 bopd are very significant for Gulf Keystone as we look forward to completing our appraisal of this massive structure with the Shaikan-5 and Shaikan-6 wells and gradually increasing our test production volumes from Shaikan to above 10,000 bopd in 2012. Clearly, Shaikan-4 is another important step forward toward achieving our goal of fully realizing the potential of the giant Shaikan discovery."

Come up with very good flow rates....

all they need now is to be able to export the damn stuff .... nevertheless, a very welcome strong show today

Canaccord note today:
"This morning, Gulf Keystone announced Shaikan-4 test results, which achieved an aggregate flow rate of 24,000 bopd over several intervals. Of note is the 14,000 bopd achieved from the Sargelu formation following acidization and retest. Shaikan-4 will now be completed as a producing well tied to the Shaikan-1 and Shaikan-3 Extended Well Test facility.
We currently value Gulf Keystone on the basis of our calculated total NAV of 172p/share using a 15% discount rate and US$90/bbl flat real oil price. We arrive at our 210p/share target price by applying a 22% premium, which accounts for a potential takeout of Shaikan using a 12% discount rate.
Share performance catalyst
Possible sale of Akri Bijeel in the next one to two months, Ber Bahr exploration results in May/June, and a further operations update from Shaikan.
Following the decision not to test portions of the well that appeared to be high quality oil reservoir on the electric logs, and where proven commercial flow rates had been achieved by testing previous wells on the Shaikan block, most of the tests have been conducted in zones which looked marginal on the well logs. Within the total maximum aggregate number, flow rates of about 4,500 bopd have been achieved in a new zone in the Jurassic Upper Sargelu, previously untested, and producible oil has been established in the Cretaceous Chia Gara for the first time, albeit at relatively low rates (130 bopd). Following the conclusion of the Shaikan-4 well testing programme, the well is being completed as a producer and will be tied to the Shaikan-1 and Shaikan-3 Extended Well Test facility.
The Discoverer-4 rig will move to the drilling location of the Sheikh Adi-2 exploration well, north of the Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well, which is expected to spud in June 2012."