China Oil Majors Reportedly Eyeing Gulf Keystone's Flagship Kurdistan Asset

By Philip Waller

Chinese oil majors appear to be casting a fresh eye over Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd.'s (GKP.LN) flagship oil asset in Kurdistan, according to a copy of a report seen by Dow Jones Newswires

Experts from the China National Petroleum Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (0883.HK) have carried out a technical study of rock formations at Gulf Keystone's Shaikan field in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq, according to a report on the study.

Shaikan has been described as a "world-class oil field" with a current production capacity of 40,000 barrels of oil a day, though London-listed Gulf Keystone plans to increase this to 55,000 barrels in the next year or so and eventually to 110,000 barrels.

The report, based on a presentation made to an industry conference in Bahrain earlier this year, cites six authors from CNPC and CNOOC or research organizations attached to them.

The latter includes the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, which is the research-and-development center of CNPC and PetroChina Co. (601857.SH).

The report says the carbonate reservoirs in the regional land basin housing Shaikan and about 29 other oil fields are "extremely rich in oil-and-gas resources."

The report also appears to question a threshold used in a previous assessment of reserves at Shaikan to determine the level of rock porosity at which oil recovery would be viable, saying it is too high.

A spokesman for Gulf Keystone declined to comment on the study and the Chinese authors didn't respond to an emailed request for comment.

The report is the latest indication of wider industry interest in the field, which London-listed Gulf Keystone discovered in 2009.

In December 2016, a Bloomberg report said that another Chinese oil major, Sinopec, had approached Gulf Keystone.

In July 2014, sector bankers and analysts reportedly said that Sinopec, CNPC and U.S. majors Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) had "shown interest" in Gulf Keystone.

And in December 2011, interest by Sinopec was reported and Gulf Keystone subsequently went with advisers to China in March 2012.

Meanwhile, Gulf Keystone said this week that it received a $21.2 million net monthly payment for oil from the Kurdistan Regional Government in September.

Write to Philip Waller at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 13, 2018 07:20 ET (12:20 GMT)

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