Gulf Keystone: Legal Victory In London
The English Commercial Court in London yesterday [Mar.14] ordered Excalibur Ventures LLC to make a payment of £6,000,000 into court within 21 days as security for the costs of Bermuda’s Gulf Keystone and two of its subsidiaries of defending the legal action commenced by Excalibur in December 2010.
The English Commercial Court also ordered Excalibur to make a payment of £3,500,000 into Court within 21 days as security for the costs of Texas Keystone Inc.
In addition, Excalibur was ordered to pay costs of the 14 March 2012 hearing to the companies and Texas Keystone Inc. and is required to make interim payments of £110,000 to the Companies and £60,000 to Texas Keystone Inc. within 21 days.
As announced by the company on 26 July 2011, October 2012 has been set as a date for a trial in the English Commercial Court of all the claims asserted by Excalibur.
The companies continue vigorously to dispute and contest the allegations and claims asserted by Excalibur.
The board of Gulf Keystone will provide further updates in due course.
Last June, Gulf Keystone revealed that it had been awarded costs in the last phase of its protracted legal battle with British firm Excalibur, which is claiming up to 30 per cent of the company’s blocks in Kurdistan.
June’s decision follows the injunction awarded in April, 2011 preventing Excalibur from pursuing its arbitration proceedings in the International Chamber of Commerce until a final determination on its claim has been made in the English Commercial Court.
At the time Gulf Keystone reiterated that it vigorously to dispute and contest the allegations and claims asserted by Excalibur.
Gulf Keystone, which operates in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, has some of the world’s most exciting oil targets.
Its flagship Shaikan is deemed to contain anywhere between 5 and 15 billion barrels of oil, and this is just one of its prospects.
The company is continuing with a high-impact drilling campaign that could utterly transform its fortunes and those of the entire region.
Established in Bermuda in 2001, Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused on exploration in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The company is registered in Hamilton, Bermuda with further offices in Erbil, Iraq, Algiers, Algeria and London.
