Business
Rejection of Legal Claims
Rejection of Legal Claims.
About this update from Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"\n RNS Number : 6307Y Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd 29 December 2010 \n \n\nNot for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States or jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom and Bermuda where to do so would constitute a contravention of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction.\n \n \n \n \n29 December 2010\n \nGulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (AIM: GKP)\n(\"Gulf Keystone\" or \"the Company\")\n \n Rejection of Legal Claims\n \nThe Board of Gulf Keystone announces that Gulf Keystone and two of its subsidiaries (referred to for the purposes of this announcement only, as \"the Companies\") received notice on 23 December 2010 that an arbitration (\"the NYC Arbitration\") was commenced by Excalibur Ventures LLC (\"Excalibur\") in New York on 17 December 2010 asserting certain contractual and non-contractual claims against the Companies and claiming that Excalibur is entitled to an interest of up to 30% in the Companies' blocks in Kurdistan. \n \nOn 21 December, 2010, Excalibur applied without notice to the Companies to the Commercial Court in London for a \"worldwide freezing injunction\" against the Companies' assets, which was refused by the Commercial Court on the basis that the Judge did not consider there was a risk of dissipation of assets. Excalibur also commenced proceedings in the Commercial Court in London on 17 December 2010 on the same grounds as in the NYC Arbitration (\"the Commercial Court Claim\") in order allegedly to protect its position in relation to potential limitation of actions under New York and/or English law. The Companies received notice on 23 December 2010 of the claims, since which time they have been in consultation with their legal advisers.\n \nThe Companies dispute the allegations and claims asserted in the NYC Arbitration and the Commercial Court Claim and intend to vigorously contest them.\n \nThe Board of Gulf Keystone will provide further announcements in due course.\n \nCommenting on today's developments, Todd Kozel, Chairman and CEO said:\n \n\"\"We believe we have very good grounds to vigorously challenge these claims in both the US and UK courts.\n \n\"We are ...