Gulf Keystone Petroleum appoints Sami Zouari to its Board as CFO

– UK / BERMUDA – Gulf Keystone Petroleum, an exploration and production company with operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sami Zouari to the Board of the Company (the “Board”) as Chief Financial Officer as of 22 January 2015. 

Mr Zouari, 42, joins the Company following careers in both the oil & gas industry and investment banking, where he also had a particular focus on the Energy and Commodities sectors in the Middle East and North Africa.

Educated at Columbia and Harvard Universities, Mr Zouari has most recently served as the Regional Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for North Africa, Iraq and Oman at BNP Paribas. Prior to his career in investment banking, he worked for Total EP in a number of roles, including as Commercial Manager for Total EP Libya in Tripoli. 

In line with the Company’s Recruitment Remuneration Policy for Executive Directors, Mr Zouari has been granted 1,500,000 market-priced share options at an exercise price of 55.00 pence. One third of the share options will vest upon his appointment and two further instalments of 500,000 share options will vest upon the first and second anniversaries of his appointment respectively. 

Commenting on today’s announcement, John Gerstenlauer, Gulf Keystone’s Chief Executive Officer said: “We are delighted to welcome Sami Zouari to the Board and to complete the management team. Alongside his strong financial and industry background, Sami brings substantial knowledge of the Middle East region, which is key to our operations and stakeholder relationships in the Kurdistan Region. He knows Gulf Keystone well, having worked with us in the past on the convertible bond issues for the Company in 2012 and 2013.

“I would like to thank Mary Hood, who will now assume the role of Deputy CFO, for the excellent interim job she has performed for a number of months.” 

About Gulf Keystone Petroleum

• Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP) is an independent oil and gas exploration, development and production company focused on exploration in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
• Gulf Keystone Petroleum International (GKPI) holds Production Sharing Contracts for four exploration blocks in Kurdistan, the Shaikan, Sheikh Adi, Ber Bahr and Akri-Bijeel blocks.
• GKPI is the operator of the Shaikan Block, which is a major commercial discovery, with a working interest of 75% and is partnered with MOL Kalegran Limited (a 100% subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas plc.) and Texas Keystone Inc., which have working interests of 20% and 5% respectively.  Texas Keystone Inc. holds its interest in trust for Gulf Keystone, pending transfer of its interest to the Company.
• Gulf Keystone is moving into the large-scale phased development of the Shaikan field targeting 100,000 bopd of production capacity during Phase 1 of the Shaikan Field Development Plan following its approval in June 2013.