Gulf Keystone Petroleum PLC (LON:GKP) has been forced to push back the timeframe for ramping up to its 55,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) production target.
The company, which operates in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, had previously expected to reach 55,000 bopd in the first quarter of 2020, but it has now moved this back to the second quarter.
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The delay is down to a slight change in strategy. Gulf Keystone had anticipated that its next well, due to be spudded towards the end of this year, would be a Jurassic production well.
Instead, that well, which will still be drilled in the fourth quarter, will now test the feasibility of gas reinjection into the Jurassic formation.
Full-year production guidance remains unchanged, but due to the changes in the drilling schedule, gross production in 2019 is now expected to be at the lower end of the 32,000-38,000 bopd guidance.
Production has averaged just shy of 30,000 so far this year, although Gulf Keystone did reach 38,100 prior to the shutdown of the PF-1 well for planned maintenance work and the installation of new equipment.
GKP shares were up 3.4% to 237.4p on Friday morning.