Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (GKP) pared
gains after climbing to a record in London trading after it
denied a report that Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) is considering a 7
billion-pound ($11 billion) takeover offer.
Gulf Keystone, active in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, surged as
much as 33 percent to 219.75 pence, the highest since the
company listed in 2004. The shares closed up 7.7 percent at
178.25 pence, giving the Bermuda-based company a market value of
1.5 billion pounds.
“Whilst there is clearly increasing interest in the region
in which Gulf Keystone operates, the board is not in discussions
with regard to a sale of the company,” Gulf Keystone said in a
statement.
The Independent on Sunday reported yesterday that Exxon,
the world’s largest oil company, is weighing a bid that would
value Gulf Keystone at about eight pounds a share.
Last month, Exxon became the latest explorer to join the
hunt for oil and gas in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region,
home to about 40 percent of Iraq’s estimated 115 billion barrels
of reserves. Gulf Keystone has announced the discovery of as
much as 10 billion barrels of oil in the Shaikan field in
northern Iraq.
Alan Jeffers, an Exxon spokesman based in Irving, Texas,
didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
Kurdistan has attracted interest from small- and mid-sized
foreign explorers since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003
opened the region for the first time in decades.
The Iraqi central government in Baghdad said this month it
will uphold agreements with Exxon “for now” after the company
signed energy contracts the government considers illegal with
the Kurdish region. Kurdistan and Iraq have yet to determine how
oil revenues will be split.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian Swint in London at
bswint@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at
wkennedy3@bloomberg.net
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