LONDON, March 15 (UPI) -- Gulf Keystone Petroleum announced Monday that it raised $24 million to fund its drilling campaign in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
The London-listed explorer said it plans to use the funds for its operations in the Kurdish provinces of Iraq.
"Further funding will be required during the course of 2010 and the company is considering its best funding strategy with its advisers," the company added.
Gulf Keystone said it plans to perform long-term tests at its Shaikan developments in the region.
An independent assessment from January estimated Gulf Keystone's Shaikan 1-B well oil reserves had a "mean value of 4.2 billion barrels of oil."
The company in August revised estimates of in-place oil volumes from the Shaikan-1 well to more than 1.5 million barrels. Operations at the various Shaikan wells extend throughout 2010.
Gulf Keystone last week said it completed testing of its Bijeel well, which yielded initial flow rates of up to 3,200 barrels of oil per day and 933,000 cubic feet of gas per day.
The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq in July awarded Gulf Keystone contracts for two other blocks, Sheik Adi and Ber Bahr, in Dahuk province.
Iraqi Kurdistan began post-invasion oil exports from its Taq Taq and Tawke oil fields June 1.
Despite the abundance of oil discoveries in Iraqi Kurdistan, disputes between the Kurdish and central governments of Iraq drag on the national energy sector.
