There is a very real possibility that there is no structural closure on the Block

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Excalibur tells court Gulf Keystone boss not credible Mon, Oct 15 16:29 PM EDT LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Gulf Keystone (GKP.L) should not be considered a credible witness in a dispute over prized Kurdistan oil fields, a lawyer for Excalibur Ventures, which is suing the oil explorer, said on the opening day of the trial. Gulf Keystone is locked in a battle to defend its ownership of giant oil fields in the Kurdistan region of Iraq after Excalibur launched legal action claiming it is entitled to a 30 percent stake of the assets under a collaboration agreement. Gulf Keystone has long been touted as a takeover target for an oil major looking for a foothold in the Kurdistan oil province, and the legal battle has often been cited as a potential obstacle to any deal. The court heard from Excalibur's lawyers how Rex Wempen, who formerly served in the U.S. Army and set up Excalibur in 2003, trekked from Turkey into Kurdistan during the second Gulf War. Two years later, he introduced Gulf Keystone to the oil license opportunity in Kurdistan, and a collaboration agreement was established. In his opening argument representing Excalibur, lawyer Simon Picken questioned the credibility of evidence provided by Gulf Keystone's chief executive, Todd Kozel. Picken cited a letter that Kozel in an earlier witness statement said he sent to Kurdistan's natural resources minister, Ashti Hawrami, in 2007, asking the minister to approve Excalibur as an exploration partner. Picken said that last week Kozel changed his witness statement, saying he believes his recollection that he sent such a letter was incorrect. Lawyers for Gulf Keystone and private U.S. firm Texas Keystone, a company founded by Kozel and which owns a small stake in Gulf Keystone's Shaikan field, will lay out their defense later in the week. Contesting Excalibur's claims, Gulf Keystone will argue that the Kurdistan Regional Government did not permit Excalibur to participate in the exploration license and that Excalibur could not fund its share of exploration costs. Gulf Keystone is listed on London's junior market, where it is one of the biggest companies with a market capitalization of 1.78 billion pounds ($2.9 billion). Its prize asset in Kurdistan is the Shaikan field, which could hold up to 15 billion barrels of oil - a volume which would make it one of the largest discoveries made anywhere in recent years. ($1 = 0.6230 British pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Leslie Adler) ============ Is this why we took sheik adi I wonder? Bobobob5 does post below bobobob5 - 18 Dec 2012 - 01:06 - 245838 of 245839 It's too late tonight to post details, but one final item: Talisman email E2A/1/527 GKP barrister: "Ian Franconi of Talisman Energy to John Gerstenlauer: 'we cannot proceed with a farm-in at Shaikan based on G&G data. There is a very real possibility that there is no structural closure on the Block". then to 528, a PowerPoint presentation of their concerns: Shaikan as a small 4-way closure if any. The Judge then asked a question. John Gerstenlauer: "we look, my Lord, for a sealing structure, an analogue is an upside down elongated bowl. They looked for a 4-way closure with oil trapped all the way round. It was mountainous to the West. It indicated *no closure*. you have to go higher and higher up the dome, and you end up with a small or relatively small volume of oil". Judge: "How do you decide closure?" John: "Seismic. You look for bending of a non-permeable layer at the edge" GKP barrister: "Hence they say a small resource volume" John: "Yes, a function of a small closure" GKP barrister: "They say 'oil has seeped to surface, therefore risk' and finally 'A one-shot wonder, with no running-room follow-up potential" John: "We did 7 lines of seismic. There was no sign on the seismic of any fault lines and sealing. If you drill one bad result, you can't go elsewhere. If the 1st hole found no oil, the 'shot' is Shaikan-1. =========== Been away for a couple of days so I may have got this completely wrong (and I am trying to catch up) but did Todd say he didn't have any idea who ETAMIC were and didn't BBBS say exactly who ETAMIC were? Sorry for being daft but as a lot of people read the BBBS post and have tweeted TK/SP from court........ any help would be greatly appreciated as either our greatest ever poster is completely wrong or our CEO is! I agree re BBBS...... in fact I would like to hold my hands up and say some of his posting is over my head. Perhaps he could provide a dumbed down version next time for the less "oiled" investors. Re the TK "no idea"..... as I said I have been away for a couple of days and trying to catch up on GKP BB Is almost impossible and takes a good few hours at the very least but I was under the impression that he had said he did not know who E were. I agree with your comments re the way Todd has answered and commentary suggests that. My Q was related more to the answering of that particular question and the answer he gave. Please don't think that I was calling BBBS great in a fashion that was meant to be detrimental. He clearly knows more than a thing or 2 and us Devon boys are not all up to speed! I know you didn't suggest that but many read all sorts in to everything. Regards, mt ========= All these endless negative ETAMIC discussions must be started by non-holders wanting to push the sp down for re-entry. ETAMIC happened, and we all could have sold then if we didn't like it, or now if we don't like it. All I know is it looks as if we will get back many times our outlay, tax or no tax. OK, maybe not transparent, but to our benefit. I'll bet our Kurdistan updates are not transparent....which would you prefer, drilling reports telling us of problems, sp falls, problems resolved, sp rises......or 'TD reached successfully'? Transparency is not always to our benefit! It's real life! ws == I think all respect BBB's posts... The fact that most ignore and simply can not be is this is a publicly listed company, and shareholders past and present had rights to know of all corperate loans, arrangements, failures to be compliant. Kurdistan is no excuse what soever for lack of accountability, plus GKP is not a private company, but TKI is, so there might be a slither on disclosure. With regards to the court, lets put it this way from a legal prespective and corperate one. Todd Kozel apparently wore several hats at the same time, and mixed his roles in ways that seem entirely incompatible with that of a CEO of Gulf Keystone Petroleum "Publicly Traded Company who shares are in the main traded on LSE market UK" The above is not a educated guess, its from a High ranking legal person. Now the best outcome is the company realizes full full value from a shareholder prespective, but this maybe at odds to some in Kurdistan and other governments, but at no time can any company side step its accountability to shareholders when it is publicly traded and owned. The disclosure issues are substantive and I am sure SEC & FSA can ask for the deatils if they do not already have them. The same on Trusts, they can be accessed. The court case is for the Judge to decide, but if both partys consider okay not to disclose each others dirty washing in court, dont expect it to remian undisclosed. Regards CJ =========== This was BBBS's epic post from 2 weeks ago, in which he specifically suggested that 'Who' Rtamic might have been did not matter, but that it was essentially a form of loan arrangement. http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?code=cotn%3AGKP.L&display=discussion&action=detail&id=10234842 I am not aware of anything that has been tweeted or posted that has shown TK to have said anything materially different to this. So, perhaps, if you have something specific in mind you could re-post it. Otherwise, I will continue to believe that BBBS is indeed "the greatest ever poster" (your words, but I actually 100% agree with them) and that TK has not specifically contradicted anything that BBBS has said! Indeed, having read as much as I can about the court case on all boards, my impression is that TK has answered all the questions put to him quickly, confidently and assuredly and that, contrary to well-documented expectations in some quarters, he has not been shown by Simon Picken QC to have provided much in the way of conflicting information at all. I bet that the Wempens of Excalibur wish that the same could be said of them! GLA, scaramouche =========== 9.37am………..Oilman63 Only 5 sat outside court today Fishsy/ steff coming at lunchtime 10.58am………Oilman63 Big John giving SP a lesson in E&P round and round we go. Has any one seen the write up in the press today. 11.19am bobobob5 - 18 Dec 2012 - 11:04:42 - 245913 of 245914 John Gerstenlauer: "Geologists are all lunatics, wildly optimistic people!" (the Judge, John, Picken and the court all laugh) It's totally true of course. 11.24am From City Diary Chilly prospect in chambers Yet more connections in the ongoing courtroom battle between Gulf Keystone and Excalibur. It turns out the barristers for the opposing sides – Simon Picken QC for Excalibur and Jonathan Gaisman QC for Gulf Keystone – hail from the same 7KBW chambers on King’s Bench Walk. This could make conversation when passing in the corridor rather awkward, after a heated High Court exchange over Picken’s cross-examination of Gulf Keystone chief Todd Kozel. Says my man in the Rolls Building: “Gaisman, who is quite formidable, basically told Picken to sit down and shut up, and in no uncertain terms.” Whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this grubby wrangle, now set to drag on until March next year. 12.16pm…….Oilman63 John G FDP at end of jan Just talking about pipelines 14.11pm ……..Fishy bits is back J Judge Clarke walks into court giving JG a nice smile SP does not get even a second look 14.36pm No backers in court this afternoon I guess they must be happy with all this time wasting 14.47pm SP "I see I have got them the wrong way round, easy for a layman" 14.54pm Judge Clarke to SP " I simply cannot see what you are working on" 15.02pm JC'SP "can someone write this down on a piece of paper for the witness & myself to understand otherwise we are all going round in circles" 15.20pm Rex arrives I say hello to him and all I get a sneer back lol 15.43pm JG "the market cap is one thing what someone is willing to pay is another thing" 16.05pm JUdge Clarke "jG do to understand this diagram" JG "no" SP good job you did not ask me then" JC "it's a warning I don't understand it 16.07pm I read this as the Judge is giving a warning to SP he does not know what he is talking about 16.14pm Qubad Talabani ‏@qubadjt Thanks 4 for all your thoughts & kind words re my father. He is currently stable & we hope can begin his recovery soon #MamJalal 16.16pm SP "I don't see myself going past the morning" judge Clarke "we will start at 10.15am ========= First may I say it was a real pleasure meeting a number of GKP shareholders, oilman63, bobobob, fishybits,Highlander, and others (please forgive me for not being able to recall other names). I was disappointed at not meeting Stefano, but I will try and get there again on Wednesday. I arrived late morning and was offered (Anastasia pointed to) a seat right at the back. I found my view of the judge, SP, TK quite restricted and it was also very difficult to hear TK. I spoke to clerk of the court, who kindly offered to get me a hearing loop (which I thought was some kind of hearing aid) but thanks to oilman63 I was able to graciously decline without showing my slight iiritation at being mistaken for deaf.. Oilman63 directed / got me a better seat very close to our legal team, where I was able to get a good view and hear all witnesses. both legal teams and the judge. A few tricky questions from judge about TK's detailed knowledge / understanding of provisions of Gokana trust (beneficiaries could not be related) and from SP about Etamic. I was a little concerned about TKs responses to the judge concerning Gokana, but I felt overall, especially after re examination, that TK discharged himself adequately. Being very close to our legal team I was able to see that JG was able to get TK to clarify issues previously raised (when i was not present) to his full satisfaction, and he did not appear to be in the slightest bit concerned. Assuming the accuracy of all past reporting, I would think it unlikely that Excal have proved their case on a balance of probability. Having said that, I am bound to say that neither did JC come over as a judge who had clearly made up his mind about his ruling There maybe numerous different reasons for this so it is really difficult to reliably read too much into this. JG had just been called before we adjourned for the day, and on this brief very limited questioning (in chief) he comes over as being confident (but not disrespectful), with a good memory and well prepared to give his evidence. As previously mentioned I will (if I can) try and return on Wednesday. My thanks again to oilman63 and bobobob for our after court discussions and your very helpful GKP insights. I know I expressed my views / intentions with regard to future posting but i wanted to express my sincere thanks in case I am not able to return again. Ellikos ======== Pittsburghguy 11 From the other side of the pond. I thought that Niper was asked a question and provided an honest answer. Tony gave his opinion and then a second opionion that E have not likely proved their case. Balance is good. IMO, was Todd wearing 2 hats (probably), did the CA have a notice provision and if so, did TKI give formal notice of a pending capital call with a cutoff date (probably not but I do not know). Were any other notices of actions given including someone deeming E not qualified to be on the PSC (probably not). Now, as I have stated in the past, my opinion of total exposure was 1 to 3 % due to the dilution of forming an investment group and the continuing need for capital. Again, that is if E proved that they suffered damages and loss due to TKI and/or GKP's actions. Not sure they have done this. Important point in determining whether or not E suffered damages due to some tort, Todd needed money and offered them a farm in deal or some level of participation. It sounds like E were chancers as you say and had no ability to raise any capital. All, IMHO. No clue as to the reason for the case but fishy in many regards. =========== Key point of the day was Simon Picken formally putting their case to Todd. (paraphrase) On Texas Keystone, SP suggested that Todd was in reality the sole decision maker, That TKI's decision to enter PSC giving 95% to GKP constitutes breach of CA as it means that they cannot give Excal 30%. That wearing his Gulf hat, TK intended to cut Excalibur out in order to save the 30% after being squeezed by paying MOL, Dabine & KRG. ----- Nlper, I think you meant this as SPs best shot? Had to go back and look for it as I missed it amongst all the myriad other posts. I agree with you we need to see the possible negative or threat as well as all the many positives. Also agree that the above is probably, at this stage, Excals best shot. Problem is it would take considerable evidence to establish that TK did all that he is alleged to have done - basically that he was pulling all the strings to shaft Excal on the deal. So far as I recall, the only thing that might cast a little doubt on GKP/TKI relationship is payment of an invoice - TKI paid GKPs once. But that's a long way from showing agency on the part of TKI. No hard evidence, no smoking gun...all we have is an allegation and speculation. Against - CA clearly made between TKI and Excal; some discussion whether GKP should be made a party but not followed through; Kurdistan Law prevented Excal being a party to PSC; Excal had no money, no access to finance, no expertise, no experience; in any case evidence is TK would have welcomed Excal if they brought finance. To show that A entered into contract with B, on behalf of C requires an awful lot of evidence. Otherwise it would make a mockery of contract law. You never signed a contract with B, you don't expect B to suddenly pop up and say you were a party to a contract you deliberately did not sign. Conversely, B signing a contract with A, would not expect C to pop up later and say Ah Ha, caught you, A actually signed on my behalf so I am a party to the contract you signed with A! Contracts would be renamed Chaos if that happened. My point is a Judge would require very strong evidence to uphold SPs allegation of contract by agency, IMHO. Very little if any has been raised by Excal on this point. No more bullets left in Excal's gun. Right now we are just playing a waiting game ... Before moving in to tie them all up and take em to jail. But I fully expect a fair amount of waiting before judgment day. Those 60M SOL need to close before I get excited again. Having said that, the bulk of my savings is still in GKP. You never know with this mad beast, what will happen this week or next! All the best investors, and please stop falling out over nothing, we (or most of us) are on the same side here - we all want to sell GKP for the best poss price ultimately. Our personal and political views and feelins, although important is just stuff that makes the world a more colourful, wonderful place. Vive les differences! ============= And this post by Bobobob. bobobob5 18 Dec'12 - 00:17 - 245833 of 245839 3 0 John Gerstenlauer said that Shaikan was "a rank wildcat in every sense of the word". When asked "where on the spectrum from 1 to 10 would it be?" he replied... ..."about a 9.5" So much for Excalibur's nonsense about a "home run" lol And here's a good Q&A from close of play today: GKP barrister: "what would have happened to GKP if Shaikan-1 had been a dry hole?" John Gerstenlauer: "a price crash to a low level. The price would have plunged from the Placing level. The future of GKP would have been in serious jeopardy. We took that risk" How Mr. Picken must have enjoyed the avuncular John G. explaining such facts...I don't think. And there's plenty more of that to come, Mr. Picken, you can be sure of that. Don't say you weren't warned lol ============= Didn't CJ remind us yesterday of what MS of Genel did to get money to pay for his share of BB? They got their knuckles seriously wrapped by the Oslo FSA (amongst others)... so on top of being against financial market regulations, it must have been rushed. What was the rush? Well I'd venture if JG says Geo's are lunatics, then when that seismic of the West of SH came back in 2009, there must have been a few of them going nuts! Its funny how the subtle deramp brigade always view things negatively (because ETAMIC from what we know now, for $52M gives us a much BIGGER % of GREATER SheikAdi/Shaikan than we would have had Hunt , RAK or TAQA got SA & BB). Easy I guess when you're an armchair CEO... BWTFDIK. Cheers, KKO PS: My opinions without prejudice, etc... ========== DNO - New export pipelines from Kurdistan http://www.iraqoilreport.com/oil/production-exports/krg-pins-payment-hopes-on-pipelines-9495/ ERBIL - Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region is counting on new oil and gas pipelines to break a political deadlock with Baghdad that risks stunting the local oil sector's growth. Page 55 http://ir.mol.hu/sites/default/files/hu/2012/Q3/IR%20presentation%20update%20-%202012_11_15_FORMAT_FINAL2.pdf Nicely located for tie in...! I must of missed that...! You are here: Home » Oil » Production & Exports » KRG pins payment hopes on pipelines KRG pins payment hopes on pipelines After a successful inspection, workers put a final coating of tape on a joint in the Erbil-Dohuk gas pipeline. (KAMARAN NAJM/Metrography/Iraq Oil Report) By Patrick Osgood and Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report Published December 18, 2012 ERBIL - Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region is counting on new oil and gas pipelines to break a political deadlock with Baghdad that risks stunting the local oil sector's growth. Companies operating in Kurdistan had hoped that a Sept. 13 agreement between the Kurdish and central governments would unlock long-delayed payments for past exports. But after three months, amidst rising political tensions, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami says the region's ... ============ In chronological order: bobobob5 - 18 Dec 2012 - 20:45:16 - 246019 of 246082 Mirabeau: Mr. Picken - that well-known expert on oil and gas - says that Kurdistan is just like other countries. Nothing special about it, in terms of risks and politics etc. Have you pi--ed yourself laughing yet? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 18 Dec 2012 - 23:38:49 - 246060 of 246082 John: "the bundle of risks becomes unique to a particular country. The individual strands are common" Picken: "The Kurdistan bundle is not particularly difficult" John: "I don't agree with that. The drilling costs are almost an order of magnitude greater than to drill to the same depth in other locations, it's very difficult drilling" Picken then tried to argue, using figures he'd plucked from an Annual Report, that it was somehow "cheap" to find oil in Kurdistan, because the finding cost per barrel at Shaikan was low. Response: John: "Discoveries of this size are exceptionally rare. The costs were exceptionally high, therefore you get a low figure per barrel of 4 to 5 cents ONCE YOU HAVE FOUND OIL" and then: John: "If you go back to the 200 million barrels figure that you showed me earlier, our finding costs would have been much higher. Shaikan would have been MARGINAL on such volumes" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 18 Dec 2012 - 23:43:02 - 246061 of 246082 The Judge interrupts Mr. Picken, and wants to go back to a diagram which Picken had introduced, and about which he had been quizzing John Gerstenlauer. Judge: "Go back to 10734. Do you understand what this diagram contemplates?" John: "No, not entirely" Picken: "I don't" Judge: "Nor do I" You couldn't make it up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 18 Dec 2012 - 23:48:34 - 246064 of 246082 John: "The Kurdistan Zagros was highly under-explored. It was potentially positive, or potentially negative, depending upon the tone of voice" Judge: "Depending upon whether you're buying or selling?" John: "Yes Sir!" Picken: "Quite a lot of work had been done by November 2007" John: "It was preliminary work, not very definitive. A seep is a demonstration of an active oil system so that's a positive. But it's also a demonstration of a breached seal, so that's a negative. You can say there was a significant amount of oil AT SOME TIME" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 18 Dec 2012 - 23:58:19 - 246067 of 246082 Picken: "Technical risk. Page 80, E2/2/292, your Witness Statement. '20% to 30% in my experience'" John: "You have to accept, Mr. Picken, that these percentages are meaningless when you have insufficient data. 25% is a good guess on insufficient data. Small companies like us are born optimists" Picken: "20% is too low" John: "Not at all. We would drill at 10%" Picken: "H26C...244..." John: "It's based on almost no data, just a 'wild guess'. You look at regional geology, play fairway, Tawke and Taq Taq as items for optimism, but it's still a wild guess" Picken: "There's a process of work, not just finger in the air" John: "Not just finger in the air, but if you ask 6 geologists you get 6 different figures" Picken: "You say Adnan Samarrai had a wealth of experience" John: "Yes. Adnan would have had some input into the volumetrics. Geologists are all lunatics, wildly optimistic people" (The Judge, John and the Court all laugh) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:06:39 - 246070 of 246082 Picken discusses political and other risks with John. Picken refers to H25B 6876 a SWAT analysis 5 October 007 prepared for the GKP board meeting. SWAT=Sell What's Available Today John: "It was that flurry of 14 PSCs that you showed me earlier that stoked the fires with Baghdad" Picken: "A political problem with Baghdad is a remote possibility" John: "No sir" Picken: "A substantial number of companies had entered Kurdistan. Gulf was in good company" John: "Most of the really great mistakes were made by smart guys who believed they knew what they wee doing. The risk now, of losing the PSC, is a bit less than it was three or four years ago. That's because of the passage of time, more money being involved, there's more of an incentive for both sides to work something out" Picken refers to contractual risks, 111-113 page 304 John: "Companies are put off. Some are in Kurdistan, and some are not" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:10:52 - 246071 of 246082 Judge: "My impression, when Kurdistan does something new regarding oil, Baghdad is negative" John: "It's not cynical. There's push and shove" Judge: "Baghdad hasn't actually DONE anything" John: "Two steps forward, one step back" Judge: "A bit like us!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:13:32 - 246072 of 246082 John: "Drilling costs are exceptionally high. I have never come across such figures for onshore drilling. There are more suppliers than there were, but there is more demand, so prices don't come down. I can't say WHICH investors have been put off. Compared to offshore, the costs are closer to an offshore than an onshore well" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:20:07 - 246075 of 246082 Picken: "Shaikan was always viewed as a sweet spot" John: "No sir. There are 110 kilometres between Tawke and Taq Taq. There have been dry holes drilled all around us, we just got lucky" and: John: "After the initial discovery, the acreage has always had upside. We viewed it internally as a MAJOR PUNT. We bet the company on it" Judge: "Is it possible that you can just miss, but if you'd drilled it say 750 yards away you could have hit oil?" John: "Yes, and it has happened to me. But at Shaikan, if with a hole near the crest you found nothing, you wouldn't find oil elsewhere because there were no faults creating compartments" (my note says "the Judge understood this explanation very well") ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:28:32 - 246076 of 246082 Picken: "You adopted an unduly pessimistic view in your witness statement" John: "No. My witness statement refers to 2007-8. That was a pretty good indication of the risks at the time. Prior to discovery there is no upside, it's a binary bet, either there is oil or there is not. The industry is a continuum, the Exxons at one end, and the lunatic fringe at the other end, taking punts, that's us. We're like kids at a fairground, trying to jump over 30 buses" Picken: "You set out to describe the gloom" John: "No. I was asked to write about the risks in Kurdistan" Picken: "If you'd been asked to write about the upside, you'd have given a positive view of the opportunity" John: "No sir. There is no upside prior to discovery. Initially it's just a punt. It's one roll of the dice, you get the number or you don't get the number. I was asked to talk about Kurdistan in 2007-8" Picken: "Gulf were among 40 others" John: "Not when we made the discovery. We were able to find investors who wanted to invest" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:35:23 - 246077 of 246082 Picken: "In practice, the value of the Shaikan block in late 2008 was no different to in late 2007" John: "We are in the data gathering business, I can't say what it would have been without the seismic. The seismic on the Western side of Shaikan was poor. I would say that Shaikan's value is currently the lion's share of our market cap, but market cap is one thing, what an asset is WORTH is something else" and: John: "OMV had the same seismic objections that Talisman and Eco did. Eco were worried about closure, and about the oil seeps" ========== http://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=21783165&from=246068 bobobob5 18 Dec'12 - 23:38 - 246060 of 246078 0 0 John: "the bundle of risks becomes unique to a particular country. The individual strands are common" Picken: "The Kurdistan bundle is not particularly difficult" John: "I don't agree with that. The drilling costs are almost an order of magnitude greater than to drill to the same depth in other locations, it's very difficult drilling" Picken then tried to argue, using figures he'd plucked from an Annual Report, that it was somehow "cheap" to find oil in Kurdistan, because the finding cost per barrel at Shaikan was low. Response: John: "Discoveries of this size are exceptionally rare. The costs were exceptionally high, therefore you get a low figure per barrel of 4 to 5 cents ONCE YOU HAVE FOUND OIL" and then: John: "If you go back to the 200 million barrels figure that you showed me earlier, our finding costs would have been much higher. Shaikan would have been MARGINAL on such volumes" bobobob5 18 Dec'12 - 23:43 - 246061 of 246078 0 0 The Judge interrupts Mr. Picken, and wants to go back to a diagram which Picken had introduced, and about which he had been quizzing John Gerstenlauer. Judge: "Go back to 10734. Do you understand what this diagram contemplates?" John: "No, not entirely" Picken: "I don't" Judge: "Nor do I" You couldn't make it up. bobobob5 18 Dec'12 - 23:48 - 246064 of 246078 0 0 John: "The Kurdistan Zagros was highly under-explored. It was potentially positive, or potentially negative, depending upon the tone of voice" Judge: "Depending upon whether you're buying or selling?" John: "Yes Sir!" Picken: "Quite a lot of work had been done by November 2007" John: "It was preliminary work, not very definitive. A seep is a demonstration of an active oil system so that's a positive. But it's also a demonstration of a breached seal, so that's a negative. You can say there was a significant amount of oil AT SOME TIME" bobobob5 18 Dec'12 - 23:58 - 246067 of 246078 0 0 Picken: "Technical risk. Page 80, E2/2/292, your Witness Statement. '20% to 30% in my experience'" John: "You have to accept, Mr. Picken, that these percentages are meaningless when you have insufficient data. 25% is a good guess on insufficient data. Small companies like us are born optimists" Picken: "20% is too low" John: "Not at all. We would drill at 10%" Picken: "H26C...244..." John: "It's based on almost no data, just a 'wild guess'. You look at regional geology, play fairway, Tawke and Taq Taq as items for optimism, but it's still a wild guess" Picken: "There's a process of work, not just finger in the air" John: "Not just finger in the air, but if you ask 6 geologists you get 6 different figures" Picken: "You say Adnan Samarrai had a wealth of experience" John: "Yes. Adnan would have had some input into the volumetrics. Geologists are all lunatics, wildly optimistic people" (The Judge, John and the Court all laugh) bobobob5 19 Dec'12 - 00:06 - 246070 of 246078 0 0 Picken discusses political and other risks with John. Picken refers to H25B 6876 a SWAT analysis 5 October 007 prepared for the GKP board meeting. John: "It was that flurry of 14 PSCs that you showed me earlier that stoked the fires with Baghdad" Picken: "A political problem with Baghdad is a remote possibility" John: "No sir" Picken: "A substantial number of companies had entered Kurdistan. Gulf was in good company" John: "Most of the really great mistakes were made by smart guys who believed they knew what they wee doing. The risk now, of losing the PSC, is a bit less than it was three or four years ago. That's because of the passage of time, more money being involved, there's more of an incentive for both sides to work something out" Picken refers to contractual risks, 111-113 page 304 John: "Companies are put off. Some are in Kurdistan, and some are not" bobobob5 19 Dec'12 - 00:10 - 246071 of 246078 0 0 Judge: "My impression, when Kurdistan does something new regarding oil, Baghdad is negative" John: "It's not cynical. There's push and shove" Judge: "Baghdad hasn't actually DONE anything" John: "Two steps forward, one step back" Judge: "A bit like us!" bobobob5 19 Dec'12 - 00:13 - 246072 of 246078 0 0 John: "Drilling costs are exceptionally high. I have never come across such figures for onshore drilling. There are more suppliers than there were, but there is more demand, so prices don't come down. I can't say WHICH investors have been put off. Compared to offshore, the costs are closer to an offshore than an onshore well" ============ bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:06 - 246070 of 246078 Picken discusses political and other risks with John. Picken refers to H25B 6876 a SWAT analysis 5 October 007 prepared for the GKP board meeting. John: "It was that flurry of 14 PSCs that you showed me earlier that stoked the fires with Baghdad" Picken: "A political problem with Baghdad is a remote possibility" John: "No sir" Picken: "A substantial number of companies had entered Kurdistan. Gulf was in good company" John: "Most of the really great mistakes were made by smart guys who believed they knew what they wee doing. The risk now, of losing the PSC, is a bit less than it was three or four years ago. That's because of the passage of time, more money being involved, there's more of an incentive for both sides to work something out" Picken refers to contractual risks, 111-113 page 304 John: "Companies are put off. Some are in Kurdistan, and some are not" bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:10 - 246071 of 246078 Judge: "My impression, when Kurdistan does something new regarding oil, Baghdad is negative" John: "It's not cynical. There's push and shove" Judge: "Baghdad hasn't actually DONE anything" John: "Two steps forward, one step back" Judge: "A bit like us!" bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:13 - 246072 of 246078 John: "Drilling costs are exceptionally high. I have never come across such figures for onshore drilling. There are more suppliers than there were, but there is more demand, so prices don't come down. I can't say WHICH investors have been put off. Compared to offshore, the costs are closer to an offshore than an onshore well" pottingon - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:14 - 246073 of 246078 IMO......I am not a "Geologist"....However....in/on the otherhand This may, well....................... Happen �............It's a Long running Clue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSKQR0k6tUY At the Take away..... Do................................................................................ From the MobIt's a Illusion.............Or something ending in �..sion martini111 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:19 - 246074 of 246078 Other Kurdies not down- Afren up Could the selling have been linked to yesterdays option expiries? If so, another reason to watch the big bounce.......imo its coming soon bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:20 - 246075 of 246078 Picken: "Shaikan was always viewed as a sweet spot" John: "No sir. There are 110 kilometres between Tawke and Taq Taq. There have been dry holes drilled all around us, we just got lucky" and: John: "After the initial discovery, the acreage has always had upside. We viewed it internally as a MAJOR PUNT. We bet the company on it" Judge: "Is it possible that you can just miss, but if you'd drilled it say 750 yards away you could have hit oil?" John: "Yes, and it has happened to me. But at Shaikan, if with a hole near the crest you found nothing, you wouldn't find oil elsewhere because there were no faults creating compartments" (my note says "the Judge understood this explanation very well") bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:28 - 246076 of 246078 Picken: "You adopted an unduly pessimistic view in your witness statement" John: "No. My witness statement refers to 2007-8. That was a pretty good indication of the risks at the time. Prior to discovery there is no upside, it's a binary bet, either there is oil or there is not. The industry is a continuum, the Exxons at one end, and the lunatic fringe at the other end, taking punts, that's us. We're like kids at a fairground, trying to jump over 30 buses" Picken: "You set out to describe the gloom" John: "No. I was asked to write about the risks in Kurdistan" Picken: "If you'd been asked to write about the upside, you'd have given a positive view of the opportunity" John: "No sir. There is no upside prior to discovery. Initially it's just a punt. It's one roll of the dice, you get the number or you don't get the number. I was asked to talk about Kurdistan in 2007-8" Picken: "Gulf were among 40 others" John: "Not when we made the discovery. We were able to find investors who wanted to invest" bobobob5 - 19 Dec 2012 - 00:35 - 246077 of 246078 Picken: "In practice, the value of the Shaikan block in late 2008 was no different to in late 2007" John: "We are in the data gathering business, I can't say what it would have been without the seismic. The seismic on the Western side of Shaikan was poor. I would say that Shaikan's value is currently the lion's share of our market cap, but market cap is one thing, what an asset is WORTH is something else" and: John: "OMV had the same seismic objections that Talisman and Eco did. Eco were worried about closure, and about the oil seeps" ============ Personally feeling very positive about GKP at present although very puzzled by all the in-fighting on this bb. But then I suppose it depends into which camp you fall? Consider the following reasons for genuine GKP holders to be cheerful:- 1. Court case appears to be going well for GKP. a. The Wempens totally discredited and plenty of evidence of dishonesty on their part. b. Excalibur shown to be a shell with nothing of value to offer or input (especially skin). c. Not aware of any evidence presented to nail Excalibur’s claim over GKP assets. d. TK has emerged from cross examination with reputation intact. e. No apparent damage to TK/GKP from ETAMIC line of questioning? 2. Share price performance a. Not surprised by the sp drift with the uncertainty of cc hanging over GKP. b. Sub £2 provides continued opportunity for monthly SIPP top-ups. SIPP=A Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) is the name given to the type of UK-government-approved personal pension scheme, which allows individuals to make their own investment decisions from the full range of investments approved by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). SIPPs are a type of Personal Pension Plan. Another subset of this type of pension is the Stakeholder Pension Plan. SIPPs, in common with personal pension schemes, are tax "wrappers", allowing tax rebates on contributions in exchange for limits on accessibility. The HMRC rules allow for a greater range of investments to be held than Personal Pension Plans, notably equities and property. Rules for contributions, benefit withdrawal etc. are the same as for other personal pension schemes. c. What price were the bonds issued pre-trial? d. We all know where the sp is heading post judgement and then towards T/O. 3. Operational updates a. Long overdue on so many fronts. b. Pipelines. c. BIRs d. FDP=field development plan 4. Surrounded by Oil Majors. So I ask myself what position would you have taken on GKP not to be pleased with any of the above? Long and strong to T/O Heli ======== First Miny..I invetsed in AOI in 2010, in hope it would be of benefit to me and Kenyans, the same as I did in Kurdistan... I was wrong and hold my hands up. My issue with AOI governace is simple, being told one thing and doing the complete opporsite. Sold binned. Madmin... WZR I had invested in a long while befor GKP, so you our out of your depth. Kurdistan I studied and learnt about for many years, before the Iraq Gulf war of 1991. It was my hope despite a war just about Oil, that investing would help Ordinary Kurds, it as not. It will not until the corruption is sorted out. Now on GKP, I brought for the right reasons, but sold when the issues really surfaced on Governance. I say it as it is and sod any super poster, who is well versed in English Grammar or rse licking. The CEO as by his own admission entered into many arrangements, one may have been with the Armadinjad of Iran for all he knows, or Hezbullha for all he knows , if he is speking the truth under oath...Now all the oil in the world will not make certain instituions trust the GKP board if the CEO and the FD paid moneies to unkown entitys that could be the above. So its about time the rse licking super brigade cut the carp and ask the questions of importance on Corperate Governance... I dont expect anyone to like the above and I dont give a rats rse if they don't. Most here would happily watch a mugger mug someone that ask the questions of CEO of companys on Aims that fail the Corperate Governace test and Compliance test , just to protect the breed of incompitence that exists at the top of some companys. There you have it, and without any Disclosure . There was a psc ammendment that showed them on Ber Barh as of March 2009..It was pulled recently..I think someone in the KRG forgot the court case was imminent...I know copies were taken and held.. Any way, it does not detract from the oil in place.. Not a de ramp or attack, simple point made..Maybe look back in history of posts. You ticked a few of them up that had this and other info in them some in 2009 2010.. Kind regards CJ CJ == Pillage=• To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; plunder. Consider the origin of government: invading marauders would travel to foreign lands and attack, rape and pillage local settlements year after year. Until eventually agreement would be reached between the pillaged and the pillagers. If the local population paid a percentage of their wealth (crops, manufactured goods, whatever) to the invaders they would turn guardians instead. Eventually the invaders would be assimilated into the local populations as the ruling classes. Seems to me that nothing much has changed between governments and citizens. Democracy is just the sugar coating on the poison pill of taxation in return for protection. Authoritarian countries just dispense with the sugar coating. But whichever way you cut it, the whole world over, pillagers/governments/authorities - call them what you will - get filthy rich at the expense of the common man. There are three types of people in this world: the pillaged, the pillagers, and the pillagers' stooges - those that are paid to track down and seize every last brass tack of citizens' unpaid protection money. Which type are you? Mandelsputin = Lets get a few things into perspective..... We are here looking for a life changing investment to make ours and our families lives easier and more comfortable. The amount of oil on our blocks in transformational for GKP, for the KRG, for the Middle East, for future OPEC oil quotas, remember we are talking about 500,000 bpd when fully ramped up (pardon the pun). It will be transformational for whichever major takes us out (please God make it sooner rather than later). Banks are corrupt, bankers are corrupt, the banking system is corrupt, the venture capitalists who bought Comet were corrupt, the local Company I know who has gone bust several times, abandoned all their debts, and started up the next day time and time again, is taking advantage of weak, corrupt business law in the UK. In conclusion, accept that wherever you choose to invest your money, be it in equities, funds, or sitting in the bank, all these places will have questions hanging over their ethics, policies and business practices, nothing you can do about it. WHAT YOU CAN DO, is when an investment pays off, give a few pounds to your local hospice, give a few pounds to your local animal rescue centre, whatever floats you boat. And to those of you lucky enough to be able to give up work after the GKP party, GIVE A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME to your local good causes. Just one morning a week volunteering somewhere is so rewarding for the people you are helping and for your well being too. And then, maybe, your conscience will be a litte clearer. having made so much in the corrupt money driven greedy world we live in, where the rich get richer and the poor poorer. Well what an unplanned rant that was!!! Oilysteve ======= Live, Oil shows are NO guarentee of commerciality (BB), if further testing on Shaikan was below expectations who would have taken the placing at 9p? It would have to be done at a discount and bearing in mind the climate at the time and the FACT that Kurdistan was the very last roll of the dice how happy would we have been if the placing happened at 2p? Remember it was heavy oil with nothing known about porosity etc, in hindsight it looks bad but pre drill it was VERY risky as there was no closure on Shaikan......just ask JG. ===== CJ I read your posts with interest and with balance. Corp Governance is a wide reaching topic as you probably well know. What I find difficult to understand is why you appear to have engulfed in hindsight corp gov. What happened to DD? It is all well and good selling out when you have a moral objection but what have you done with your profits realised as a result of taking the moral high ground? Have the Africans or the Kurds benefitted from your profit taking ? Or, if you have made no profit and taken a loss on moral/ corp gov grounds, have you taken one for the team or does the IRS have a loss filed? Apologies if you are genuinely a conscientious objector but check out what you have just said FFS=False Financial Statements (auditing). You would never invest in another equity, government or corporate bond if you are that concerned about genuine corp gov. You may also wish to avoid bank deposits also.......!!! Investing in any equity TORRONEGRO1 == CJ - You didnt answer any question miny put to you, just sidestepped them. Have you been to Erbil recently? How do you know it has not benefitted the Kurds. Forget ME or Africa, how squeaky clean do you think our own government is? You can't claim to take the moral high ground when you are sucking from the same teet. I think generally speaking most dont have an issue with the odd post highlighting such activity and to be honest I wouldnt expect anything less at any level of business - corruption is rife in every country in the world including here and more so the US, any governance is just an ar.se covering exercise on the odd occasion when someone gets found out, but when you are repeating the same thing over and over and over again, its get tiring and frankly boring and it turns people off. You almost remind me of ILS in that respect recently. So given you have made your profits both here and AOI, why do you feel the need to "educate" on the same thing, why dont you start a "corporate governance club" and channel your energy into that and lobby parliament to make some real changes rather than just repeat yourself on this board especially when you are not invested and you come across repeatedly attacking "our investment" We heard you the first time now please just move along if you have nothing "new" to add. SantoTraficante =============================== SP, acquiring SA & BB Via ETAMIC July 09, talks about sign on bonuses. Fees? No fees to pay until first oil discovery? JG, yes sir. SP, so nothing had to be paid upfront to the KRG? Rather generous isn't it. JG, well yes sir. ** Its not unusual for agreements to be made for no fees until 1st Oil is Discovered, and its always been stressed that GKP has a “special relationship with the KRG” No wonder they special relationship with the KRG, when one considers GKP has Discovered the amounts of Oil they have done SP, August 2010 Gulf paid. Bonuses to the KRG. Figures were mention. I think 20mil? Then went on to say Genel were the only named party on the BB PSCs. JG, yes sir. SP, so putting it bluntly there was a much longer period on 30 days very generous? JG. We finally got our name signed to them about a week ago? SP, took a while didn't it. JG, the longest I've ever had. SP, the KRG can be flexible can't they? They can relax it if they wish. ** SA has been a Discovery, so naturally the Fees being payable on Discovery have to be made The big News I've gleamed **** The way I see the Fee payable on Discovery relating to Ber Berh, insinuates Ber Berh is a Discovery ???????????? JG, it's up to the Sovereign government sir, Dr. Ashti is a very clever man. SP,talks about the un-named investors of ETAMIC. JG, I remember signing a document stating I have no interest in ETAMIC. SP, you signed that document without asking who was behind it? JG, yes sir that was the easy one. SP, your job was to make sure you get the best deal for Gulf? The ETAMIC deal do you know who's behind it. JG, no sir but I'd heard middle east, Mr. Lang???? SP, your on the board at this time wasn't the board interested in who was ETAMIC. JG, well yes. SP,your giving 50% of Gki plus assets? ** Based on what we know now, with Etamics “default”, those 50% GKP “gave away”, have come back JG, with the present information at the time it was more so based on the size of the structure, they were recommended by the oil ministry? So we went with them. they brought 40%BB & 80% SA It was a good. Swapa asset. Swap. SWAT=Sell What's Available Today SP, where is the documents. JG, no documents were ever finalized. SP, so if ETAMIC were never finalized / gulf short of cash? This could have put gulf in a tight spot having 4 block to pay for. JG, yes sir its a very risky business we are in. Judge, no cash involved with ETAMIC. JG. No sir no cash involved. SP, 09/03/2010 GKPI and ETAMIC. Doc was this proposed at 12mil at one time. JG, no sir. I know we paid 12mil for ETAMIC. To go away. SP, was the KRG involved. JG, I wouldn't know sir, but I know we wanted to put a full stop behind it. **** Nothing got out of JG then What the heck has BB, SA and Etamic got to do with a Collaboration Agreement made in 2006/7, so I can’t understand SP’s line of questioning being relevant to his Clients claim. Unless it is all “fill waffle” to gain more Court time of course ============== http://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=21783165&from=246325 bobobob5 20 Dec'12 - 00:25 - 246335 of 246335 1 0 Harry: amazing! btw John Gerstenlauer expressed his thanks to the shareholders who have been supporting the company so well in court during the trial, and I'm sure he won't mind me passing that on to those who either weren't there when he came out of the witness box, or weren't able to speak to him. John's a great asset to GKP, we are very fortunate to have him...but let's not forget, *John didn't appoint himself* to the job. The Chairman has to take the necessary steps to create rhe team, and that's Todd. ============== THE GKP TODDSCA AWARDS 2012 pj66 below is an award ceromony all in good faith , humour and fun , not malicious or hurt is intended and puerly for entertainment value only so dont go all waspy on me .. Best Improved Poster Award - Mandels - from a nervous investor your knowledge and banter has outshone most this year and i've enjoyed the chicken chat ( indian starter also ! ) Deputy Dog Award - news hounds off the net - Pathai and Profith L2 Award - Mikey and WS Best Political Award - CJ , jeez you know some stuff mate , speak soon Best Travelled Award - Oilman63, fair play mate and well done for the kurdy visits big man , keep them coming Court Reporter Award - loads who featured SF , Bobob, myself ( on mondays ) , nige , BG ( did you cop a holiday from the travel contributions lol ) Alto - for your raw reporting style and hostel bottom clenching experiences Most cryptic poster - GRH1 - just spit it out geezer lol Bravery Award - shared - Davy who spent 6 months in afghan ( i enjoyed the updates , now family time mate ) and Dreambuilder , your posts have changed my outlook on life and others i would imagine - keep strong and keep in touch Now for a more light hearted awards Comedy Double Act Award - your one liners, humour and FF remarks are my humour , you constantly crack me up guys Faulty Software Award - Elena - 3years running babe , well done The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Award - I48 , i miss your posts sir and i know your out there watching - i have more golden tickets now , and its calmer here now so get posting . The Victor Meldrew Award - Ren , acceptance speach is ' i dont b beleive it ! . many thanks for the WZR updates Tonight Matthew im going to be Award - you know who you are ... crimminal lawyer my o my BS lol ( not you EG so dont go off on one ) Dom Jolly Award - Kandymans - its got bigger buttons mate so no excuses !! Best Trade Award - Grimbeaver lol Most consistant deramper Award - 3D ( news by xmas im told ) Best Impressionist of myself Award - AXO what a load of *********s Jack and Vera Award - Mikey and WS - for your constant bickering and corrections which i find highly ammusing Houdini Award - BBBS and he's so back ( from outta space ) . im still sitting on that ranchwith you my friend Most detailed poster Award - Scara , who mananged an additional 50,645 words this year - keep it up mate The Martini Award - makemmagic, anytime anyplace , any court house lol The Rodney Award -HWD , who missed the AGM due to a bender and a massive overhang -whataplonker , ive had a few in my time ( not that kind lol ) New award is the BAFTA - you can work it out from sash's dictionary ---- BAFTA Award - mm80 ( the yo yo ) seriously, good luck with your sxx Geejay - new year resolution - start the 6.45 up again , its missed and we maybe on a time limit Calender Girls - Opti and FiFi - get 10 others for a gkp charity calender - i have the camera and tripod ! special thanks to Sash for your recent support and others you know who you are my mentor - Tradesmarter my guru - erdec ( x) please feel free to add your own awards pj - chilling out =============== Court overall & Weekly Chart Jacksalad Morning everyone, Things beginning to look a bit 'grim' again, despite having completed X-examination without incident! - Would I have taken the outcome so far before the trial began? DEFINITELY! I attended court for 9 days in total. RW had 12 days X- examination and from the 4-days I saw, and from what I read from other reports, he lost all 12 days! TK had 11 days of which I saw 5. - Of those 5 days, I felt a 'little uncomfortable' for 1 morning and 1 afternoon, thereby I score TK a winner by 4-1 from what I witnessed. I gather from other reports that he was impressive on the 6 days I did not attend, giving him a total score of 10-1 on my card! This makes the overall score in X-examination of 22 days-1 day in favour of TK. As I understand it, the hearing resumes on Jan 15th with expert witnesses and concludes with summaries by defence & prosecution by the end of Feb. - The Judge then has to consider the evidence and reach his verdict, but I have no idea of the time scale for this? Finally, I just thought I'd upload my weekly chart so anyone interested can see what I believe to be the key support levels should we need them! http://screencast.com/t/UJ4IilyR A very BIG Thank you to all contributors to this board throughout the year. It has ben really enjoyable and made fascinating reading! Best wishes to all for Christmas and hopefully a prosperous New Year. Jack ======== http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/1-iraqi-kurdistan-oil-exports-fall-5-000-115324384--business.html Adds background, details) KIRKUK, Iraq, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Oil shipments from autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan have fallen to around 5,000 barrels per day from around 30,000 bpd at the start of the week, Iraqi oil officials said on Thursday. Two officials at the state-run North Oil Company did not give a reason for the decline, but the fall comes at a time of increased tension between the Kurdish region and the central government in Baghdad over payments to companies there. A spokesman for the Kurdistan ministry of natural resources could not immediately be reached for comment. Kurdistan has in the past halted oil shipments in protest over what it says are delays by Baghdad in paying oil companies working in the region. At their highest oil shipments were at 200,000 bpd. An initial payment was made by Baghdad in October for $650 million. But a subsequent payment is still outstanding. The payment disagreement is part of a broader dispute between the Arab-led central government and ethnic Kurds in their northern enclave over political autonomy and control of the OPEC country's huge oil wealth. (Reporting by Mustafa Mahmoud and Isabel Coles; writing by Patrick Markey) ================== Noticed that the Nav Calc is down by Spidey (under construction) and that Hub has taken the what will GKP be taken over at thingy off his site. GRH has also said he is stopping posting on ADVFN. Man its in a low point for obvious reasons (lots of them - turmoil/court case etc etc). Where's the faith. =========== Hello Everyone, I have refrained from posting for a long time now but i do read the board now and then. Just a few pointers i thought are important to all geniune and long term shareholders and traders as well. The amount of OIP that GKP has found,for an oil junior is history by itself.That Shaikan is a world class discovery,Sheikh-Adi is no push over and Akri-Bijeel is the dark horse.As for Ber Bahr we have 300m column of oil which have difficulties flowing,but Genel has only drilled 1well. That we have mainly heavy oil and have hydrogen sulphide at the Jurassic and it does not take rocket science to get rid of the H2S.Saudi has it's fair share of sour crude and has been in production for decades and no one makes a fuss about it.GKP does have the light oils at the Triassic.The Permain is still in unchartered territory! As for Excalibur,placing a big bet after the winning horse has past the post,no matter how smart the QC spins his conjectures will always be a struggle.From the reports i have read on this board,courtesy from a4tlo,and his mates,tweets from simonfisher,tells me that Excalibur thought, that making a claim of up to 30percent of GKP,will bring TK to the table for a settlement and IMHO,that back fired and hence left with no choice but to buy time for their plan B. Politics that have been weighing down on the shares since 2010(Elections) has always been around and not new to most of us that have been a shareholder since Sept 2009.The politics in Iraq is very complex and i do not think anyone can find a quick fix to this.The politics of Syria affects Kurdistan and we have Iran that is trying to dominate the region. that Saudi is very fearful of!But what is most comforting to us investors that since Nov 2011,we have seen the entry of ExxonMobil,Chevron,Total and Gazprom. We have 2Majors from the US,1 from France and 1 from Russia gives me great comfort to my investment and make no mistake that these Majors will have it's employees based in Kurdistan and safety and security of it's employees are most important to the Oil Majors. Pipelines to Turkey will happen,irrespective of whether Kurdistan remains in Iraq or not.The Kurds will now realised that they have to have their own access to the market and not rely on Baghdad's pipeline irrespective of whether it is Maliki or Shahristani or Sadr,or whoever the PM of Iraq.Having a potential oil reserves of 45billion barrels does not make Kurdistan secure or prosperous if it cannot determine the destiny of who they are selling the crude to and more importantly direct access to payments.Turkey will be the main beneficiary from Kurdistan's progress and prosperity. Finally as for the SP which affects most of us daily,we have seen 200p in 2010,in 2011 and 2012,after all the OIP upgrades,Majors in Kurdistan,Pipelines to Turkey and now the factual evidence trial completed,the SP is sub 170p!! I must have read at least 2RNS's about Ballie Gifford increasing and decreasing it's shareholdings the last 24months.It tells me very clearly that the Institutions are trading on GKP like most of the PI's on this board.That does not change the fundamentals of GKP at all and in fact,i have seen the fundamentals increase over the last 12months,more so now that Excalibur have no smoking gun on TK! None of us has ever got GKP right in our predictions.An oil junior with so much OIP has lots of option,a Tullow Oil route will see GKP grow over time,a take over route will see many PI's cash out immediately.All we know is that PW is still engaged by GKP and if their services have been terminated,IMHO a RNS is mandatory.Exit Awards are in place,FDP will be submitted by 31st Jan,we will know Excalibur's claim at the latest June 2013,all these events make GKP an even more exciting stock into 2013! Last but not least Merry Xmas and A Happy and Prosperous New year to all Board members. Happy holidays to all. Best wishes and will not answer to any queries,my sincer investor48 ============= MP : Absence of Talabani, gives Barzani the opportunity to announce secession of Kurdistan from Iraq. 21/12/2012 10:40:00 Baghdad/ NINA /-- MP Karim Alewi for Iraqiyoon bloc predicted that ties between Federal government in Baghdad and the regional government in Arbil would be dramatically and gravely affected in case of absence of president Jalal Talbani. He said in a press statement today: " President Jalal Talabani represent the safety valve and the link factor between the governments in Baghdad and Erbil stressing that in case of Talabani's absence , the relationship woul be dramatically deteriorated , since the region's president, Massoud Barzani is trying to break away from Iraq and that the presence of Talbani constitute as obstacle in front of the concretization of the separation of Kurdistan, he said"./End Not true. The Kurdish leadership will be in a position to declare secession away from Iraq once the pipeline to Turkey has been completed. Payments directly to the KRG will leave no reason for the Kurdish leadership to remain in a country that is ruled by one man. What Maliki did last night re the Iraqi Finance Minister only damages his credibility as an 'Iraqi' strongman. By sidelining the Sunnis, he has strengthened the Iraqiya bloc - last night they were all united against the raid against their finance minister - Rafil Essawi. Maliki failed to win a single seat in the Northern, Sunni provinces of Iraq. He will not perform so well in the upcoming local elections - April 20th. In fact, the decision by the Iraqi (Shia) National Alliance to run as a united bloc in the Sunni provinces illustrates they expect to do very poorly. Perhaps even more striking is the fact that Maliki's decision to send troops to areas of great tension between Erbil and Baghdad has created a unified stance for ALL the Kurdish parties. The Kurdistan Region is home to a number of opposition parties seeking reform in our region, not in Baghdad. However, these parties were unsure about supporting the no-confidence vote against Maliki earlier this year. At the expense of Maliki, they have joined behind the leadership - specifically Barzani, and are completely against Maliki's policies. In fact, they have even refused to attend meetings with Maliki, who is trying to hold discussions with small Kurdish parties about a majority government. Maliki has proven to be a failure. The question is whether the Iraqi people will vote for his party again in the upcoming local elections, or look at the lack of basic services and security, and rampant corruption across the country. The discussions of a no-confidence vote is ongoing. During the last attempt, they HAD the votes, there is no question about it. Unfortunately, a particular neighbour exerted enough pressure on President Jalal Talabani not to call for a parliamentary session and not to request that Parliament withdraw confidence. However, Talabani has suffered a stroke and is currently outside of the country. Ironically, he is in the same country that he visited when he refused to back the no-confidence vote. The Iraqi Constitution is clear about who should become President next. It is the current Vice President Khudier al-Khuzaie - a close ally of Maliki, and there is little chance that this VP will call Parliament to withdraw confidence against his colleague. What could happen, however, is that Barham Saleh, who is Talabani's current deputy in the Kurdish Patriotic Union party, is likely to succeed Talabani as President. Barham Saleh is vigorously against Maliki and was supportive of the no-confidence vote. If he does take the Presidency then the agreement between him and the other local Kurdish parties will be to convene Parliament and call for a no-confidence vote. The elections are something to look out for for the time being and who will take the Presidency. Will post again soon. viiva87 ================= Collusion No one has mentioned a) that our QC demanded that Wempen should be brought back as they indicated he had not told the truth and this would have devastating implications for him and the evidence he gave. b) Our legal team demanded names of the backers and the Judge said that should include all those approached, 40 page document produced, but our side agreed that it should not be published, presumably because this was not in our interest. Share price collapses to ridiculous levels. c) We have not been informed of operational updates that as shareholders we should have been. In other words collusion between both sides. d) BBBS was silenced but produces a mega post where he does not just post his brilliant analysis of the geophysics,( or whatever it is called I am ignorant), but whose main point seems to be a justification of Etamic.Why did he go off course with all this "political" comment when his main and magnificant contribution has been about the geo analysis.? e) Etamic,Gokana etc not raised by Picken to TK or to JohnG in a serious way. Looks to me deals have been done by our side and Etamic. We humble investors in the cheap seats just seems to be victims in all this and TK cannot or does not even give us something to hang on to i.e some RNS's. I am sure that our legal team and advisors will say that it is all in our own interest and I am sure that there are massive political and other issues that cannot be disclosed and some current political issues that are all to worrying. Both sides in this dispute IMO have lots of dirty linen is this why they have come to an understanding? Are we really been controlled,(understandably it is their oil), by the KRG. It all means that we are in the dark. I just cannot understand why these issues have not been raised by those of our more perceptive and those investors apparently more in touch with the GKP board and legal team. Now I can only rely on the fact that we are not just explorers and that we have proved oil and so we must be worth more than £1.69. Even if the bas..tards take the 30%, ( no way!), we are still worth 4 or 5 times as much as the current share price. What the hell is going on! manu ============= Iraq says to withold payments for Kurdish oil Fri, Dec 21 12:58 PM EST BAGHDAD, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Iraq will not pay oil companies operating in Kurdistan because the autonomous region has failed to export the volume of crude it pledged to, a spokesman for Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy said on Friday. The comments ramp up a standoff between Baghdad and the region, which have been locked in a long-running spat over land and petroleum rights. Tension appeared to ease in September, when Kurdistan and Baghdad struck a deal under which the autonomous region agreed to continue pumping its share of national oil exports in return for payment from the central government. An export target of 200,000 bpd has been set. Following that agreement, Baghdad transferred an initial sum of $650 million to the Kurdistan regional government (KRG), but a subsequent payment is now overdue and Kurdish crude exports this week dropped to around 5,000 barrels per day. "The Iraqi side gave them the (initial) sum, but they haven't supplied the 200,000 bpd," Faisal Abdullah told Reuters via telephone. "The government fulfilled its obligations according to the agreement but Kurdistan shirked theirs," he said. In recent weeks, oil exports from Kurdistan have slumped from a peak of around 200,000 bpd. The reason for the reduction is not clear, but the region has previously halted exports in protest at Baghdad's withholding of payments. Baghdad rejects the deals signed between Kurdistan and oil companies including majors Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Total as illegal and has blacklisted some that have ventured into the northern region. Kurdistan says its right to grant contracts to foreign oil firms is enshrined in the Iraqi constitution, which was drawn up following the 2003 invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. The oil payment dispute is part of a broader debate between Baghdad and Kurdistan over control of oil and territories which is straining Iraq's uneasy federal union one year after U.S. troops left. ==========================

Lookingatlucky: Being an accountant I'm really attracted to the off balance sheet assets and their true value. I don't trade the stock and never have as I'm a long player in this game. Time will out the value, its a game of patience. My average is £2.40 so the daily MTM is not pretty right now but whereas Enron's off balance sheet were real liabiliites GKP's are real proven assets with possibly serious upsides to come. I was happy at the time at all the prices I bought them at so no complaints there. The court case is what it is and a sign of the times we now live in. Its will be a thing of the past soon enough. There will always be politics

============================ Bigdog5 Monday 24 December 2012 Sheikhy, I am informed by someone who knows all about that sort of stuff that the SP has been manipulated for a very long time using Bots and DMA. I was also reliably told that software had been developed and was being rolled out October just gone that would identify and report all the shenanigans as apparently the FSA had decided to actually do something about it. Unfortunately it would appear that there has been a delay implementing said software for unknown reasons. For those harbouring conspiracy beliefs I would expect the software to arrive shortly after GKP has been sold on the basis that UK authorities excel in shutting the stable door after the horse is miles away. Happy Christmas all and here's to a very Prosperous 2013. I'm confident there will be massive action sometime in January and the CC wont affect the timing in any way. And for those of you that dismiss CJ over on iii, huge error:-) Tweeted By fishybits | Retweet ========================= Happy Christmas to you Bah Bah, Scaramouche, GRH and Gramacho. Chicago Jack has in the past alluded to "Adnan not being able to be part of GKP when the court case started" or something like that. He's - as you know - always a bit cryptic. I have wanted to ask you for a while if you chaps have any opinion on why Adnan went to the KRG and if that's a plus for us or not. Best regards Jelly =================