Gulf Keystone restructures balance sheet to survive

OREANDA-NEWS. July 18, 2016. London-listed upstream independent Gulf Keystone Petroleum will restructure its balance sheet. It says the move is the only way it can avoid liquidation and will enable it to implement a plan to sustain and then raise production at the 30,000 b/d Shaikan field in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Gulf Keystone proposes converting over \\$500mn of existing debt into equity, and raising \\$20mn-25mn through an open offer, potentially diluting shareholders' ownership of the company to 14.5pc.

The firm said in March that production at Shaikan would decline, naturally, in the absence of new capital expenditure. The proposed restructuring will enable output at Shaikan to be maintained and potentially increased to 55,000 b/d, Gulf Keystone says.