Oil & Gas Corporate News
Max Petroleum (LON:MXP) (BUY, 50p) (MXP, 12.8p, ? (0.0%)) announced today that it has received a letter from the Ministry of Oil and Gas of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("MOG") notifying the Company of the termination of its subsoil use licence for the Astrakhanskiy Block in Western Kazakhstan (the "Astrakhanskiy Licence") due to the Company's failure to comply with the work obligations stipulated under the Licence. The letter does not affect the Company's principal asset, the Blocks A&E licence area. The Company believes the MOG's position reflects a broader policy change regarding the treatment of subsoil use licences behind in their work obligations. The Company had already decided not to drill an exploration well on the block without a partner and has obtained assurances from its senior lender, Macquarie Bank Limited, and the holders of greater than 85% of its convertible bond holders that a termination of the Astrakhanskiy Licence would not constitute an event of default under the Company's outstanding debt agreements. Accordingly, the Company does not believe the MOG's action will have any material adverse affect on
Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) (BUY, 200p) (GKP, 67.5p, ? (2.17%)) announced the arrival of the initial loads of production facility equipment to the Shaikan field location and the commencement of the rig move by the AOS Discover-1 drilling rig to the Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well site. The first pre-packaged production equipment units have arrived at the production facility construction site near the Shaikan-1 well location. This equipment together with the oil storage tanks and truck loading facility will form the basis of an 18,000 bopd capacity oil production treating and truck loading facility. This facility will be used during the long term production testing of the Sargelu (upper Jurassic) oil reservoir in the Shaikan-1 discovery well (reference 12 July 2010 announcement with respect to workover rig operations). Production testing will last for at least 18 to 24 months and accumulate valuable data related to reservoir characteristics and oil recovery factors. The test volumes (estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 bopd) will generate Gulf Keystone's first oil production revenue in Kurdistan. In addition, the AOS Discoverer-1 drilling rig has arrived at the Sheikh Adi-1 well site and rig up is 10% complete. This well will be Gulf Keystone's first exploration well on the Sheikh Adi block in which the Company has an 80% working…
