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.

.

">


http://tradingresearchpoint.co.uk/2012/12/28/gulf-keystone-
gkp-finally-the-big-turnaround/

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2254395/2013-SHARE-TIPS-The-Mails-city-reporters-reveal-picks-coming-year.html

This from someone who's posting i've experienced over severak years and found to be solid.Make of it what you will?
===========================================================

Just stay true to your beleifs and your own conclusions.

Bigdog and Biggerthis are both reasonable guys and have been posting longer than I have on here.

As have many others .

I missed the SH-1 rise . Saw the RNS that day. It rose, rose some more, then some more.

I dismissed it as was unconvinced regarding the politics and ownership of the oil. (Nothing changed there then!)

Wasn't until by chance I was informed by a work colleague that his brother in law was drilling manager on that drill.

Told me a few things about the sea of oil.

They were itching to go deeper as all the signs were there.(Though the drilling gear wasn't designed for such an event.

SH-7 could be SH-1 all over again.

I think I posted 100bb before BBBS as that is what I was told.
It's the biggest out there.(Gwharar included)

But I don't work in the industry. Have limited knowledge to be fair.
But I posted what I heard at the time and was interrogated / questioned / slagged off. (Dalesman challenged me also).
I only posted what I heard and still beleive to be true

But I stay pretty quiet here at the moment.
Nothing to add really
Just waiting to see if my guy was right.

Bought another £3.5k just before christmas.
Just in case he was right.

Hope for everyone a peaceful , healthy and fun packed New Year.

Yep, SH-7 is going to be very exciting.............

http://english.mubasher.info/portal/KSE/getDetailsStory.html?storyId=2220375&goToHomePageParam=true

From a respecred poster.

http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail/?display=discussion&code=cotn%3AGKP.L&it=le&action=detail&id=10292939

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AND A RE[LY FROM AN OIL ENGINEER WITH MANY YAERS EXPERIENCE.


With respect to grh the figure of 10,000 psi bottom hole pressure means little without a lot more information. Eg a well of 23,000 feet will have a bhp of 10,000 psi if filled with water. The bhp is merely pressure in the formation or the pressure required to hold back the flow of formation fluids or gas upwards.
If the well was only 10000 feet, then it would mean that a VERY heavy mud is required to hold back flow, and thus this would be of great significance. Thus one really needs to know more specifics of the wells concerned.
HOWEVER: 9,500psi AT SURFACE. Now you are talking.

http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/137831-erdogan-to-washington-to-promote-his-kurdish-state/#ixzz2GlA3BsVx

Some might think in keeping with my other posts? lol

http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2012/04/15/contractor-paints-road-markings-over-pile-of-horse-manure/

Nice blue start to the year, should be good things from GKP in Q1 and Q2 of 2013.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F68TLzFtAdY

bobby, its stark staring bonkers alright! Nodarf.

fairenough11
7 Jan'13 - 16:46 - 249246 of 249302 3 1
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8d15816c-4929-11e2-9225-00144feab49a.html#ixzz2HJBM2zrF
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8d15816c-4929-11e2-9225-00144feab49a.html#ixzz2HJBM2zrF

Kurdistan’s vast reserves draw oil majors

By Guy Chazan in Irbil

Published: January 7 2013 16:17 | Last updated: January 7 2013 16:17

For decades, the rugged hills of northern Iraq were the sole preserve of sheep herders and the Kurdish militia known as peshmergas. Now they play host to some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, drawn by its estimated 45bn barrels of oil.

“We are driving over huge reserves,” says Richard Lowe, drilling manager for oil explorer Gulf Keystone, as he crosses Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil-rich northern corner.

Off to the right, he says, lie Ain Sifni and Barda Rash, where the London-listed oil company Afren has made two big oil discoveries. On the left are vast unexplored fields. “That’s where ExxonMobil will be drilling,” he says.

The region’s oil is so plentiful it literally oozes out of the ground. Near Gulf Keystone’s Shaikan field – one of the world’s largest onshore oil finds of recent years – Mr Lowe points to crude oil leaking out of the limestone rock and dribbling down in thick black seeps."

Kurdistan starts independent crude oil exports

07 Jan 2013 - 19:10

* First crude from Taq Taq oilfield reaches Turkish port * Fresh tender for Kurdish condensate imminent * KRG oil exports via Baghdad-controlled pipeline halted By Julia Payne and Peg Mackey LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Kurdistan has begun to export crude oil directly to world oil markets through Turkey, industry sources said on Monday, which poses the biggest challenge yet to Baghdad's claim to full control over Iraqi oil. The export of crude, in addition to small volumes of niche condensate, demonstrates the semi-autonomous region's growing frustration with Baghdad as it moves towards ever greater economic independence, the sources said. The volume of oil involved is small, but industry sources said the direct export is highly symbolic as the KRG seeks more financial independence from Baghdad. The first crude has been delivered by truck to the Turkish port of Mersin on the Mediterranean, shipping and industry sources said. "The KRG gave us permission to start crude exports from the Taq Taq oilfield," Genel Energy President Mehmet Sepil said in an interview. Control of oil is at the heart of a dispute between Iraq's Arab-led central government and the autonomous region run by ethnic Kurds in the north. Baghdad insists the central government has the sole constitutional right to export oil. In an apparent renewed dispute over payment, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) halted shipments through the Baghdad-controlled Iraq-Turkey pipeline last month. The KRG began exporting its own very light oil, or condensate, independently to world markets in October by truck to a Turkish port, where it was sold via an intermediary. [ID:nL5E8LN8MV] Now the Kurdish region is adding crude from the Taq Taq oilfield, where London-listed explorer Genel Energy has a stake, to its slate of exports. A fresh cargo of condensate is also ready to sell through an imminent tender, said a shipping source. Industry sources reckon around 15,000 barrels per day (bpd)of condensate from the Khor Mor gas field are reaching the Toros terminal in Turkey. Crude oil exports from Taq Taq, for now, are also small. In exchange, Turkey is sending back refined products to the Kurdish region, which is short of fuel. Over the past year and a half, Kurdistan has upset Baghdad by signing deals directly with oil majors such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron , providing lucrative production-sharing contracts and better operating conditions than in Iraq's south. The KRG says its right to grant contracts to foreign oil firms is enshrined in the Iraqi constitution, which was drawn up following the 2003 invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. But payments to foreign operators in Kurdistan are getting caught up in the long-running spat over land and petroleum rights. Baghdad said last month it would not pay oil firms operating in Kurdistan because the region had failed to export the volume of crude it pledged under a deal struck in September. That agreement stipulated that Kurdistan would pump crude through the Baghdad-controlled Iraq-Turkey pipeline in return for payment. An export target of 200,000 bpd was set for the last two months of 2012, and Kurdish authorities pledged to raise exports to 250,000 bpd in 2013. But exports of Kurdish oil have been halted since around mid-December, after nearing the 200,000 target early in the month. Baghdad transferred an initial sum of 650 billion Iraqi dinars ($560 million) to the KRG. But a second payment is still pending for the foreign companies in Kurdistan. (Reporting by Julia Payne and Peg Mackey; editing by Jane Baird) ((peg.mackey@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 207 542 7714)(Reuters Messaging: peg.mackey.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: KURDISTAN CRUDE/EXPORTS

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/kurdistan-crude-exports-idUSL5E9C843R20130108

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100359429

Kurdistan's Vast Reserves Draw Oil Majors

Published: Tuesday, 8 Jan 2013 | 1:19 AM ET
By: Guy ChazanIrbil

For decades, the rugged hills of northern Iraq were the sole preserve of sheep herders and the Kurdish militia known as peshmergas. Now they play host to some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, drawn by its estimated 45 billion barrels of oil.

"We are driving over huge reserves," says Richard Lowe, drilling manager for oil explorer Gulf Keystone, as he crosses Iraqi Kurdistan's oil-rich northern corner.

Off to the right, he says, lie Ain Sifni and Barda Rash, where the London-listed oil company Afren has made two big oil discoveries. On the left are vast unexplored fields. "That's where ExxonMobil will be drilling," he says.

The region's oil is so plentiful it literally oozes out of the ground. Near Gulf Keystone's Shaikan field - one of the world's largest onshore oil finds of recent years - Mr Lowe points to crude oil leaking out of the limestone rock and dribbling down in thick black seeps.

Barely on the oil majors' radar five years ago, the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq is now one of the biggest draws in the energy industry. But the enthusiasm is tempered by escalating tension between the region and Baghdad, which has led to border skirmishes and rows over oil. Last month, regional crude exports - which feed into a centrally controlled pipeline system - fell to a trickle because of a row over payments.

Observers in Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, say the row reflects a broader crisis at the heart of the Iraqi government. "There are clearly big problems with its ability to govern," says one official. "No one knows what's going to happen next."

Despite the problems, Iraq's oil industry is seeing a major rebirth - a revival so strong that it is helping to dispel fears of a future global oil shortage. The country's production, long suppressed by war, sanctions and neglect, is expected to double to more than 6m barrels a day by 2020, according to the International Energy Agency. By the 2030s, the IEA says, Iraq will be the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia.

The Kurdish region's contribution to this revival is small but growing. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) sees production from the region - now about 200,000 barrels a day - rising to 1m b/d by 2015 and 2m b/d by 2019.

That has made it Big Oil's hottest real estate.

Its largest oilfields - Tawke, Taq Taq and Shaikan - have become household names in the industry.

"Kurdistan is the oil exploration capital of the world," says Tony Hayward, the former chief executive of BP, now chief executive of Genel Energy, the largest independent oil producer in the region.

Exxon's decision to enter the region in 2011 was a turning point, with Chevron, Total and Gazprom following in its wake.

The KRG says their arrival should silence critics who question the legality of the production-sharing contracts it has signed with international energy groups. "[Exxon's arrival] is an endorsement of our policy," says Ashti Hawrami, the KRG's minister of natural resources.

Baghdad says the Exxon contract - and the roughly 50 other deals the KRG has signed - are unconstitutional and has barred oil companies that enter the north from participating in Iraqi oil licensing rounds. It has also made life hard for oil companies operating in KRG-controlled areas who often have to wait months for Baghdad to pay them for the oil they produce.

Nearly 10 years after US-led forces invaded Iraq and removed Saddam Hussein, relations between the Kurds and Iraq's Sunnis and Shia remain strained.

That has translated not just into tensions between Baghdad and Irbil over oil but also skirmishes in disputed territories - including oil-rich Kirkuk - on the border between KRG territory and Iraq. The illness of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, makes the situation even more febrile.

Tensions flared up in dramatic fashion last November, with a shoot-out between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the small town of Tuz Khormato in which one person was killed and several wounded. On December 17, explosions in a Shia district of the town killed at least five people and wounded 24, while a truck bomb killed seven near Mosul.

New security arrangements in the disputed areas - with a joint command replaced by one led by Baghdad - has also fuelled concerns. "They're worried about what they see as the creeping militarisation of Kirkuk," says a diplomat based in Irbil. "They say that makes it even less likely that there will be a proper political settlement of the status of the disputed areas."

For now, there are hopes that ultimately the export issue will be resolved - hopes that rest on the KRG's plans to build a new 1m b/d oil pipeline to the Turkish border.

Though there is no clear date for construction, under current proposals, it will tie in to Iraq's existing export pipeline between Kirkuk and Turkey's port of Ceyhan. But the KRG could seek to develop a separate route across the border into Turkey, effectively giving it control of its own exports. Already, Iraqi Kurdistan is shipping small amounts of oil by truck across the Turkish border.

"This [dispute] will not resolve itself until Kurdistan has the infrastructure to allow it to export oil directly to Turkey and be independent from Baghdad," says one foreign oil executive active in KRG territory.

Experts say such an outcome would inevitably hasten a full, comprehensive agreement on exports and oil rights because the KRG would have much more leverage in any negotiations with the central government.

Despite the problems, oil companies in the region are willing to persevere. They "are used to working in very ambiguous circumstances", says one Irbil-based energy consultant. "With Kurdistan, they feel the risk is worth it."

Going well today, as time goes buy more of those who recently sold out will buy back in and the price will rise more and more building up and building up to when the court case ends, either surprisingly early or on schedule.

Turkish analyst: Ankara to invest in oil...
pathai
http://www.shafaaq.com/en/news/4665-turkish-analyst-ankara-to-invest-in-oil-and-housing-field-in-kurdistan.html

Wednesday, 09 January 2013 10:47

Shafaq News / A Turkish economic analyst revealed on Wednesday, that Ankara is considering to invest in oil field in Kurdistan region , while stressing that the expansion of investment in housing field was be under study also.

The Turkish economic analyst, Okan Ayoub told "Shafaq News", that "Turkey plans to invest in oil field in Kurdistan Region;" adding that "Ankara didn’t start this step previously for fear of its impact on relations between the province and the center in Iraq."

He added that "this fear does not exist on reality on the evidence that U.S. companies and other oil companies are investing in the oil field within Kurdistan," pointing out that "Turkey is considering it now and there is a big possibility that the Turkish companies would invest in oil field in the region."

"The housing field investment issue will depend on if it will serve the Turkish economy,” he added.

The relations between Baghdad and Ankara are witnessing significant tension over the past few months because the Iraqi government accused Turkey of interfering in its internal affairs, supporting opposition parties and the different viewpoints of the two sides on the Syrian crisis

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/columns/fox-davies-capital/11702/gulf-keystone-petroleum-ltd-feature-in-fox-davies-newsflash-11702.html

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. feature in Fox-Davies Newsflash

9:56 am

Daily Oil & Gas Monitor

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) – Kurdistan – A Small Step for the Oil Sector, a Giant Leap for Kurdistan: Genel has today disclosed that it has started to ship crude into turkey, admittedly in small quantities. While the amount is small, what it does do is clearly demonstrate that the Kurdistan is keeping to its timetable of permitting exports independently of Baghdad. The volumes may be small, but this is a significant step forward, and paves the way for the wholesale export of crude in the next 12 to 18 months. We believe that this is excellent news for the region, as well as the players within it. On the back of this news, we are reiterating our BUY Recommendation and 350p Target Price for Gulf Keystone.

GKP closing in on the golden crossover,200dma just above 200p.SP now at 194p.

http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/68033/genels-kurdistan-shipments-raise-hopes-gulf-keystone

Genel's Kurdistan shipments raise hopes for Gulf Keystone
By Darshini Shah | Wed, 09/01/2013 - 10:37

Genel Energy (GENL) has started to ship crude oil into Turkey from the Kurdistan region of Iraq in small quantities.

"While the amount is small, what it does do is clearly demonstrate that the Kurdistan [Regional Government] is keeping to its timetable of permitting exports independently of Baghdad," stated analysts at FoxDavies.

"The volumes may be small, but this is a significant step forward, and paves the way for the wholesale export of crude in the next 12 to 18 months."

Should investors buy Gulf Keystone?
The news bodes well for the region, as well as for the companies operating there, including Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP).

Last year was a rollercoaster for the company, which saw the shares reach a peak of 433p in February, before falling 60% to end the year at 177p.

However, the clouds seem to be clearing for the oil and gas explorer.

One of the big problems Gulf Keystone has faced is a ban on oil exports caused by disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraq's central government. However, Wednesday's news appeared to be paving the way for exports to flow from the region once more. In fact, plans to build a new pipeline to increase export capacity are already underway.

Secondly, Gulf Keystone has been engaged in a legal dispute with a company called Excalibur Ventures, which is claiming that an agreement dating back to 2006 entitles it to a 30% share of Gulf Keystone's subsequent discoveries.

However, January should see the matter settled one way or another and remove any uncertainties. Winning the case would likely pave the way for a move to the FTSE 250, which would give it greater exposure to large, institutional investors.

Thirdly, Kurdistan has an estimated 45 billion barrels of oil, with Gulf Keystone's 51%-owned Shaikan asset estimated to hold 14 billion barrels in place. Even if investors assume only a quarter of this is recovered, that equates to just 95p per barrel at the company's current market capitalisation of approximately £1.65 billion.

Finally, with Shaikan the biggest asset in Kurdistan, the explorer could be on the radar for other players in the region, including Chevron (CVX), Total (TTA) or ExxonMobil (XOM). Gulf Keystone's attractiveness could be further augmented if the company wins the court case, as this would remove any obstacle to a takeover bid

Eyes also on MOL this quarter for news that could have a very positive impact on GKP (20% share of the AB license)

News is due on Bakrman-1 well testing and also Gulak-1 well testing - MOL say Q1 2013 but of course that means "at any time" in the quarter, could be Jan or Feb or March. Could well be end of Jan. (Not forgetting Aqra-1 testing news as well is due).

MOL also say development plan for Shaikan is due Feb 2013 with full production from Shaikan commencing Jan 2014.

For those thinking no news soon, there is plenty of news coming end of Jan and early February......