Gulf Keystone Petroleum partner strikes oil at Bijeel-1 in Kurdistan

Shares in Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd (AIM: GKP) shot up in closing London trade after the group announced that the operator of the Akri Bijeel block in Iraq’s Kurdistan region concluded a successful oil test in the Bijeel-1 exploration well.

The well was spudded in mid-December 2009. Gulf Keystone holds a 20 percent working interest in the production sharing contract, while Kalegran, a subsidiary of Hungarian oil and gas group MOL holds the remaining 80 percent of the PSC.

Shares in Gulf Keystone rose more than 13 percent in the last minutes of trading in London.

The tested zone is in the upper Jurassic and flowed at rates of up to 3,200 barrels of oil per day with associated gas rates of 933,000 standard cubic feet of gas per day.  Oil gravity was 18 degrees API and flowing wellhead pressure was 420 psi on a 48/64" choke.

Drilling operations are still in line with previously announced plans.  Following completion of the full test cycle, drilling will resume from the current depth of 3,831 metres to a final planned depth of approximately 4,400 meters, pending actual well results.
The Bijeel-1 well is targeting prospective intervals in the Cretaceous and the Jurassic. The well is the first exploration well being drilled on the Akri Bijeel block which is adjacent to Gulf Keystone’s Shaikan block. In December, Gulf Keystone was forecasting that the well would take approximately four to five months to complete.

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