Gulf Keystone Petroleum Regulatory News (GKP)

Not for release, publication or distribution in or into jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction

29 March 2010

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (AIM: GKP)

("Gulf Keystone" or "the Company")

Bonus Shares

At a board meeting held on the 26 March 2010, it was resolved to issue 814,036 new common shares of USD 0.01 (the "Award Shares") to directors and employees in respect of awards still due for 2007 and 2008 pursuant to and in accordance with the terms of the Company's Executive Bonus Scheme (the "Scheme"). 

Details of directors receiving Award Shares under the Scheme are as follows:

Todd Kozel 166,667 common shares

Ewen Ainsworth 89,014 common shares

Ali Al-Qabandi 150,000 common shares

The Award Shares will be issued fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing issued common shares of the Company. Application will be made for admission of the Award Shares to trading on AIM with effect from 6 April 2010. 

Following the issue of the Award Shares, the interests of the aforementioned directors in the share capital of the Company is as follows:

No. of Common Shares Per cent. of enlarged share capital

Todd Kozel 4,084,448 0.79%

Ewen Ainsworth 538,414 0.10%

Ali Al-Qabandi 5,800,000 1.12%

In addition Todd Kozel and Ali Al-Qabandi are shareholders in Gulf Keystone Petroleum Company LLC which owns 40,000,000 common shares

The total issued share capital of Gulf Keystone following this allotment will be 517,389,525 common shares. The Company does not hold any common shares in treasury and so the total number of voting rights in the Company is 517,389,525.

Enquiries:

or visit: www.gulfkeystone.com

Notes to Editors:

§ Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (AIM: GKP) ("Gulf Keystone" or the "Company") is an independent oil and gas exploration company focused on exploration in the Kurdistan region of Northern Iraq.

§ Gulf Keystone Petroleum International (GKPI) holds Production Sharing Contracts for four exploration blocks in Kurdistan.

§ The Company's shares have traded on the AIM market, since listing on 8 Sept 2004.

§ The Company established a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt ("ADR") programme on 5th December 2008. The ADRs are traded under the ticker symbol GFKSY in the US over-the-counter ("OTC") securities market of Pink OTC Markets Inc. (www.pinksheets.com)

§ Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited is registered in Hamilton, Bermuda with offices in Erbil, Kurdistan, Algiers, Algeria and London, UK.