Exploration and production firm Gulf Keystone Petroleum revealed on Monday that its main export route out of the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq has been shut-in.
Gulf Keystone said the Iraq-Turkey pipeline had been shut-in at the request of Turkey following an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.
The ruling stated Turkey was violating the terms of a 1973 bilateral agreement by allowing the Kurdistan Regional Government to export crude through the pipeline without Baghdad’s consent.
The London-listed group said the pipeline will remain closed until the situation can be resolved and warned that production from its Shaikan field will be “curtailed”, with the firm utilising storage capacity over the coming days, after which it will suspend production.
Gulf Keystone said: “Although it is not yet clear when export operations will resume, public statements made by the KRG, Kurdistan’s Ministry of Natural Resources and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil lead us to believe that the suspension of exports will be temporary.
“GKP is closely monitoring the situation and engaging with both the KRG and the MNR. The company will provide further updates to the market, as appropriate.”
As of 1110 BST, Gulf Keystone shares had slumped 15.22% to 147.0p.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
