Gulf Keystone wins costs after legal victory against Excalibur

16th Dec 2013 12:34

A court has awarded costs of more than 23m pounds to Gulf Keystone Petroleum and a partner after the Iraq-focused oil and gas explorer won a long-standing legal case.The English Commercial Court ordered plaintiff Excalibur Ventures to pay Gulf Keystone nearly £14m and partner Texas Keystone more than £9.2m after rubber-stamping a decision in September to reject Excalibur's claims against the pair.Excalibur had claimed that it was entitled to a 30% share in assets in Kurdistan in northern Iraq, including the Shaikan field tipped to hold at least 12bn barrels of oil.Excalibur, which claimed it helped introduce Gulf Keystone to the opportunity in Kurdistan, began legal action in 2010.Gulf Keystone has long been touted as a takeover target for an oil giant looking for a foothold in the region.But ongoing uncertainty from the legal battle had been cited as a potential obstacle to any deal.Chief Executive Todd Kozel said: "After recovering the costs of these proceedings, we look forward to putting these historical events behind us to focus on our growing development and production business in Kurdistan."Shares in Gulf Keystone fell 4p to 184p at 13:03 in London.PW