(Alliance News) - Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd on Wednesday said it has declared a special dividend of USD50 million, following strong cash flow.
Shares in the Bermuda-based oil and gas exploration company were up 6.9% to 288.55 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
Gulf Keystone said it will be seeking shareholder approval at its annual general meeting on June 24 to pay total dividends of USD75 million. The dividends comprise of the previously declared USD25 million annual ordinary dividend and the USD50 million special dividend. The annual ordinary dividend is expected to be paid on July 15, while the special dividend is expected to be paid on July 29.
The company said that as of Tuesday it had a cash balance of USD218.0 million.
Further, on Wednesday Gulf Keystone said that the Kurdistan regional government had made a USD55.8 million payment. The payment consisted of USD45.1 million for Shaikan crude oil sales during February 2022 and USD10.7 million for the arrears from the outstanding February 2020 invoice.
The company added that the November 2019 to February 2020 invoices have been fully recovered.
Looking forward, Chief Executive Jon Harris said: "Assuming timely payment of invoices and strong oil prices, we expect continuing strong cash flow generation in 2022, providing flexibility to consider further shareholder distributions, optimisation of the capital structure and a potential increase in capital expenditure."
By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com
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Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP)