Gulf Keystone Petroleum confident export suspension will be temporary

Wed, 09th Aug 2023 11:52

(Alliance News) - Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd on Wednesday said, though no official timeline has been announced, it believes the suspension of Kurdistan crude exports will be temporary and that the Kurdistan regional government will resume oil sales payments "in due course".

Gulf Keystone Petroleum is the operator of the Shaikan Field, one of the largest developments in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Shares in the firm were up 7.4% at 99.10 pence around midday on Wednesday in London.

Gulf Keystone said that exports from the Shaikan Field remain suspended and that no further oil sales payments have been received from the Kurdistan regional government since September.

Consequently, outstanding receivables of USD151 million are owed to the company for the months of October 2022 to March 2023.

The company said that while no official timeline has been announced, it continues to believe that the suspension of exports will be temporary and that the Kurdistan regional government will resume payments in due course.

It said that Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan regional government, has assured it and other international oil companies operating in Kurdistan that production sharing contracts will be honoured and outstanding receivables will be repaid.

"As political negotiations continue, we remain focused on what is within our control to preserve and bolster liquidity. We are pleased to have commenced local sales in July and partially restarted Shaikan Field production, increasing gross average sales volumes to 11,700 [barrels of oil per day] in August to date while receiving payments in advance," the company said.

"We are actively pursuing additional local sales opportunities, although pricing and volumes remain unpredictable. At the same time, we are continuing to reduce our costs, pursue inventory sales and proactively manage our accounts payable. We look forward to providing a further update on progress at our half year results later this month."

By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Gulf Keystone Petroleum