LONDON (Bloomberg) — Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd., a Bermuda-based explorer in the Middle East and North Africa, acquired holdings in two Kurdish production-sharing contract areas, while seeking arbitration in a dispute over an Algerian licence.

The explorer won "significant interests" in the Iraqi Sheikh Adi and Ber Bahr blocks from the Kurdistan Regional Government, the company said yesterday in a statement. ETAMIC, a private investment fund based in the Middle East, will fund 50 percent of the costs, Gulf Keystone said.

Oil producers have flocked to Iraq since the autonomous Kurdish region in the north of the country started to export crude last month. The nation, whose oil industry accounts for about 65 percent of gross domestic product, is seeking to attract foreign investors to help boost output after six years of conflict and prior sanctions destroyed its infrastructure.

The partnership with ETAMIC "has halved shareholders' exposure to any drilling success whilst retaining all the current financial burden" for Gulf Keystone's existing drilling programme, Al Stanton, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note. "It remains a difficult time for Gulf Keystone."

Gulf Keystone closed unchanged at 12.5 pence in London. The shares have fallen 25 percent this year, valuing the company at about £50 million ($83 million).

The blocks may have combined resources of more than one billion barrels of oil in place, according to Gulf Keystone's technical team. The company plans to accelerate drilling at the blocks, with the first well being started next year.

Gulf Keystone also said yesterday it had filed for arbitration to resolve a dispute over an Algerian permit. The move followed an announcement on July 14 that the company would sell a stake in the country's Hassi Ba Hamou licence and focus on Kurdistan.

BG Group Plc, which holds a 36.75 percent stake in the permit, is claiming $7.5 million in cash as compensation for the decision to suspend investment, Gulf Keystone said. BG's action may lead to Gulf Keystone's forfeiture of rights on the permit, it said, adding that "the rights which BG seeks to exercise are unenforceable".

BG said in an e-mailed statement yesterday that Gulf Keystone had breached the terms of the joint operating agreement.

A successful claim by BG may hurt Gulf Keystone's finances. In June, the company said it was seeking funding because spending commitments "significantly exceed" financial resources. It had cash of $33.6 million at the end of last year.