Gulf Keystone aims to streamline Kurdistan operations

14 September 2011

Company wants to list in LSE midcap index in spite of widening losses

Gulf Keystone is looking to streamline its Kurdistan operations, and wants its shares listed on London’s midcap index.

The Bermuda-registered oil and gas company is seeking buyers for a 20 per cent stake in the Akri-Bijeel Block to concentrate on other assets in Kurdistan, it said on 14 September.

The move will allow the Kurdistan-focused company to concentrate on its Shaikan development and Shaikan pipeline project, as well as its Sheikh Adi and Bir Bahr plays.

“The company has made a strategic decision…[to] focus on the ambitious programme of appraisal and [extended well test] production at the Shaikan field, the Shaikan field development plan and pipeline project, as well as on the exploration and appraisal of Sheikh Adi and the drilling of the first exploration well on Ber Bahr,” it said in a statement.

The company widened its loss in the first half of 2011 to $10.5m, from $3.09m in the first six months of 2010, as operating costs increased.

Gulf Keystone also announced it is seeking to shift listings from the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market to the LSE’s midcap FTSE 250 index.

“The company had a market capitalisation of £1.2 billion ($1.89 million) which would place it comfortably in the higher echelons of the FTSE 250 index if it were currently eligible.”

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