Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd.
Not for release, publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part in or into the United States or any jurisdiction other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws or regulations of such jurisdiction. This announcement (and the information contained herein) does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation or sale would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws or regulations of such jurisdiction.
8 December 2015
Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited. (LSE: GKP)
("Gulf Keystone" or "the Company")
Result of the Special General Meeting and Board Appointments
The Board of Gulf Keystone Petroleum ("the Board") is pleased to announce that the resolution proposed at the Company's Special General Meeting ("SGM") held today at 12.00 noon (local time) in Brussels, was duly passed by shareholders.
The results of the SGM are as follows:
Resolution |
Votes for |
% |
Votes against |
% |
Total Votes cast |
Votes withheld |
1. To amend the bye-laws of the Company pursuant to bye-law 166 |
173,037,195 |
99.99 |
14,760 |
0.01 |
173,051,955 |
900 |
The total number of shares in issue at 8 December 2015 was 978,138,061.
The full text of the resolution may be found in the Notice of the Special General Meeting, copies of which are available on the Company's website http://www.gulfkeystone.com/.
In addition, the Board is pleased to announce that, following the passing of the resolution, Cuthbert ("Cuth") McDowell and Keith Lough have been appointed to the Board as Non-Executive Directors with immediate effect. Jón Ferrier, CEO, has also been appointed to the Board with immediate effect.
Cuth McDowell
Having read Technological Economics at Stirling University, Cuth (59) began his career in 1979 at BP where he spent eight years in a variety of economic and commercial roles. In 1987 he moved to Clyde Petroleum as Senior Economist, before being promoted to Group Commercial Manager ahead of the eventual sale of the business to Gulf Canada. In 1997 Cuth joined Paladin Resources and in his commercial and finance director roles, played a key part in building Paladin into an E&P company which was ultimately acquired by Talisman Energy in 2006. He currently sits on the Board of IGas, the UK onshore oil & gas company. Until earlier in 2015 Cuth was a Non-Executive Director of Pitkin Petroleum, where he had also served as Finance Director.
Keith Lough
Keith Lough (54) read Economics at Edinburgh University before qualifying as a chartered certified accountant with British Gas in 1985. He subsequently obtained an MSc in Finance from London Business School. In 1988 Keith joined LASMO PLC where over the course of the next eleven years he held a range of senior financial and operational roles, including MD of the North Sea, and then Europe and North Africa before LASMO was sold to ENI. Keith was CFO of PetroKazakhstan for two years before being headhunted for the CFO role of British Energy, the nuclear power company. At British Energy he oversaw the complex restructuring of the business and the interaction with the UK Government and its creditors. In 2004 Keith founded coal bed methane focused Composite Energy Ltd, which was acquired by Dart in 2011. The team from Composite spent a year at Hutton Energy, during which time Keith was CEO. Keith is currently a Non-Executive Director of Rockhopper Exploration PLC, Cairn Energy PLC, Papua Mining PLC and the UK Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (Ofgem).
Commenting on today's announcement, Andrew Simon, Non-Executive Chairman of Gulf Keystone said:
"With shareholders having approved the changes to the Company's Bye-Laws, we are pleased to confirm that our CEO Jón Ferrier has now been appointed to the Board.
"We have made clear our intent to rebuild the Board with high calibre individuals, and to ensure that the Board is truly fit for purpose. We are therefore extremely pleased to have secured the services of Keith Lough and Cuth McDowell. Both Keith and Cuth have a deep knowledge of the strategic, operational and financial dimensions of the oil & gas sector. They bring decades of experience in the building of businesses, but also in the realisation of the value in them for shareholders. Their track records also span both executive and non-executive roles within London listed companies.
"On behalf of everyone at Gulf Keystone I warmly welcome all three Directors at this important juncture in the Company's development. With shared values and goals we see a strong cultural fit with Gulf Keystone and are confident they will make a significant contribution."
No further information in connection with Mr McDowell's or Mr Lough's appointments are required to be disclosed pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.13R.
or visit: www.gulfkeystone.com
Notes to Editors:
· Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
· Gulf Keystone Petroleum International (GKPI) holds Production Sharing Contracts for four exploration blocks in Kurdistan, the Shaikan, Sheikh Adi, Ber Bahr and Akri-Bijeel blocks.
· GKPI is the operator of the Shaikan block, which is a major commercial discovery, with a working interest of 75% and is partnered with MOL Kalegran Limited (a 100% subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas plc.) and Texas Keystone Inc., which have working interests of 20% and 5% respectively.
· Following the establishment of a regular payment cycle for all oil sales and arrears, Gulf Keystone plans to move into the large-scale phased development of the Shaikan field targeting 100,000 bopd of production capacity during Phase 1 of the Shaikan Field Development Plan.
Disclaimer
This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made by the Company's Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this announcement but such statements should be treated with caution due to inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business factors, underlying such forward-looking information. This announcement has been prepared solely to provide additional information to shareholders to assess the Group's strategies and the potential for those strategies to succeed. This announcement should not be relied on by any other party or for any other purpose.
