Gulf Keystone has been given a significant boost after rivals Excalibur decided to not to appeal a court ruling over its failed bid to oil operations in Kurdistan.
Excalibur had gone to court, claimng 30% of Gulf Keystone’s oilfield assets in the Iraqi region, including the giant Shaikan field and the Sheikh Adi block.
The company claimed it had introduced Gulf Keystone to the Kurdish opportunities, and said it had a collaboration agreement with the company over a share of the fields.
Earlier this year, after a three-year court battle, the English Commercial Court dismissed the claims and now, following the publication of the full judgment, Excalibur is not going to appeal the ruling.
“We are extremely pleased to have reached the end of this three year long process, which required a lot of time and effort from the company and created unfortunate and significant uncertainty for our shareholders,” said Gulf Keystone chief executive Todd Kozel.
“The court ruled in our favour in the most unequivocal manner, acknowledging the speculative nature of Excalibur’s claims, all of which have been dismissed.
“We worked hard to defend our position, which has been clearly articulated from the very beginning, in the interests of our shareholders. After recovering the costs of these proceedings, we look forward to putting these historical events behind us to focus on our growing development and production business in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”
The battle has proved a costly one for Excalibur, which has paid out £17.5million in costs, along with more than £5million more in other security.
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