Gulf Keystone Petroleum announces Jón Ferrier to the Board as upcoming CEO

– BERMUDA, Hamilton – Following recent press speculation, Gulf Keystone Petroleum confirms that it is in the process of appointing Jón Ferrier as CEO. Following a brief transition period, John Gerstenlauer will retire as CEO and, at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, as a Director of the Company. A further announcement will be made in due course.

Jón Ferrier, (57) will join Gulf Keystone as CEO following three decades spent in exploration, commercial, strategic and leadership positions in the oil and gas and mining industries. Mr Ferrier, a geologist by training, was most recently Senior Vice President Business Development, Strategy & Commercial at Maersk Oil in Copenhagen.

He has considerable international experience, including in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and has successfully led the delivery of complex projects on time and within budget in the Middle East. His most recent roles have been externally oriented and have seen Mr Ferrier working effectively with all stakeholders, including host governments.

Prior to Maersk Oil, Mr Ferrier’s oil & gas experience was gained with ConocoPhillips, Paladin Resources PLC, Petro-Canada/Suncor, in a number of regions. He has a B.SC in Geology from UCW Aberystwyth and an M.SC awarded with distinction from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College in London and has undertaken executive programmes at IMD, Ivey, Thunderbird and Harvard.

Mr Ferrier is a British Citizen and is married with three grown up children. He will split his time between London and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Andrew Simon, Interim Non-Executive Chairman of Gulf Keystone said: “John Gerstenlauer has been instrumental in the success of Gulf Keystone to date. He has been with the Company for seven years and as Chief Operating Officer oversaw the most successful drilling campaign in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. On stepping up into the role of CEO he has ensured Gulf Keystone reached its 40,000 barrels of oil per day target at the end of 2014. He has also played a pivotal role in seeing the Company through a number of challenges over the past year. On behalf of the Board, and everyone at Gulf Keystone, I thank him sincerely and wish him the very best for his future once he leaves the Company.”

“Jón Ferrier will bring considerable experience to the head of the Gulf Keystone executive team, and to the Board. We are confident that a combination of his international operational expertise and strategic track record, will serve the Company well.”

About Gulf Keystone Petroleum

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (LSE: GKP) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations 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.

Gulf Keystone plans to move 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.

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