 The English Commercial Court in London dismissed all claims filed by Excalibur against Gulf Keystone’s acreage in Kurdistan.
Media reports said that in a packed courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, with GKP CEO Todd Kozel in attendance, Judge Christopher Clarke ruled Excalibur had no valid claim over the Shaikan Field in Kurdistan or any of GKP’s other assets in Iraq.
Excalibur is a company owned by former US special forces soldier Rex Wempen, who claimed he had introduced Gulf Keystone’s Chief Executive Officer Todd Kozel to opportunities in Iraq’s Kurdistan region in 2005 and was owed his share of the recovery.
After the hearing Kozel said: ‘We are very pleased to have achieved the best possible outcome from the point of view of the company and our shareholders.’
He also said the Board and management will now focus on progressing the ramp-up in production and development of the Shaikan world class discovery in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Production from the Shaikan block will play a crucial role in helping the Kurdistan Region to achieve its overall oil export targets of one million barrels per day by the end of 2015, and two million barrels per day by the end of the decade.
With this verdict in place, Gulf Keystone will be one of the most important players in Kurdistan.
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