Gulf Keystone reaches 'major milestone' at Shaikan

Oil and gas company Gulf Keystone has reached a 'major milestone' by submitting a declaration of commercial discovery for the Shaikan Block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The firm, together with Kalegran and Texas Keystone, acts as the contractor of the production sharing contract for Shaikan.

The declaration, which is effective from August 1st of this year, will be followed by a field development plan to the Shaikan Block Management Committee within six months.

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Todd Kozel, Gulf Keystone's Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: "Declaration of Commercial Discovery is an important milestone for Gulf Keystone. It marks the completion of the Shaikan appraisal programme and the move to the development of this world class discovery. Preparation of the Shaikan Field Development Plan is already well underway, which we look forward to submitting within the next 180 days."

Last month the firm unveiled a significant upgrade of the gross oil-in-place volumes for the Shaikan field, its main asset, to a mean value of 13.7bn barrels.

The field had at that time between a probable value of 12.4bn barrels to proven value of 15bn barrels of oil-in-place, giving an average of 13.7bn, compared to the previously announced range of 8.0 to 13.4bn barrels with a mean value of 10.5bn barrels.

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