By PSQ Analytics

Gulfsands Petroleum Plc (GPX) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company. The group’s major focus is on the Middle East. Gulfsands has oil exploration and development projects in the Syrian Arab Republic, and upstream and midstream oil and gas business development activities in Iraq.

- Vision: The company’s goal is to become one of the pre-eminent independent E&P companies in the Middle East.

- Syria: Gulfsands owns a 50% working interest in and is operator of Block 26 in North East Syria. The Block contains the Khurbet East oil field, which was discovered in June 2007. At year-end 2008, the company had announced reserves in Syria of 35.2 mn barrels of oil. More recently, management had achieved its year-end 2009 target from the Khurbet East field of 16,000 bopd in mid-September. Early in 2010, the company announced additional E&P successes at the nearby Yousefieh field.

- Iraq: Gulfsands signed an MOU in January 2005 with the Ministry of Oil in Iraq for the Maysan Gas Project in Southern Iraq. The company is currently negotiating details of a definitive contract for the project, which will gather, process and transmit natural gas that is currently a waste by-product of oil production.

- Gulf of Mexico: The company owns interests in 44 blocks comprising approximately 138,000 gross acres offshore Texas and Louisiana, which include 30 producing oil and gas fields. The assets were damaged by hurricanes in 2008. Management is restoring profitability, but will likely sell the operations once the market recovers.

- Improving Results: In 1H 09, the company delivered solid financial results. Revenue rose 47% to USD29 mn. Net profit of USD3.7 mn reversed a prior-period loss – and was the company’s first profit to shareholders in five years. The cash balance at the end of the period was USD31.9 mn.

- 2010 Program: Zaman-1, the first well in the 2010 exploration drilling program, was spudded on 15 January, 2010. The Zapan prospect is located 4.5 km to the south of the Khurbet East field. Gross unrisked speculative reserves for this prospect are estimated to be 23-35 million barrels of oil.

Key recent news

26 January, 2010: Gulfsands was granted a 25-year production license by Syria’s General Petroleum Corporation that will allow it develop the Yousefieh Oil Field accumulation in Block 26. The Field was assessed in 2008 as containing gross provable plus probable reserves of 11 mn barrels of oil.

21 January, 2010: In an operation update, Gulfsands announced that the Khurbet East-14 Delineation Well intersected an oil column and oil flowed to the surface. This development is expected to have a positive impact on reserves.