Source: Financial Times, 20th September 2011

A new land of opportunity opens up every so often. Darien, Tanganyika and Iceland spring to mind. Iraqi Kurdistan is this month's, though with greater justification than the previous three. Oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum is ratcheting up activity there financed by a $200m placing and a proposed disposal valued at $300-$350m. A fortnight ago Vallares, the vehicle of Nat Rothschild and Tony Hayward, announced that it would merge with Genel, a Turkish oil group active in the region.