Social

Our focus

Our contribution to Kurdistan’s social and economic development is critical to our licence to operate and our long-term future success. Throughout our corporate history, we have been committed to creating significant local economic value by employing local people, supporting local suppliers and generating revenues for our host government from the Shaikan Field. We regularly engage with and invest in our local communities, as we continue to strengthen the relationships we have built in Kurdistan since 2007. We also continue to focus on making GKP a great place to work, embedding a culture underpinned by our corporate values.

Health, safety and environment

Health, safety and environment (“HSE”) governance is a core responsibility for our executive team. Led by our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), the Board oversees our HSE strategy and receives regular updates on our performance via the Safety and Sustainability Committee. The Executive Committee addresses health and safety via ongoing operational meetings which include senior management meetings.

Our Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) holds regular health, safety and sustainability meetings with GKP’s Senior HSE and Sustainability Manager and the broader team to ensure that our HSE Improvement Plan, HSE-related metrics and daily actions are appropriately addressed. This includes upholding the principles and expectations outlined in Gulf Keystone’s Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Community Policy and our Code of Business Conduct.

Life saving rules

Embedded into our approach to safety are Gulf Keystone’s Life Saving Rules. These are based on the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers’ Life Saving Rules and provide our staff and contractors with practical life-saving guidance required in the field. The nine Core Rules and 11 Supplementary Rules are regularly discussed and reinforced at safety briefings, highlighted in various places around our facilities and are reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure they remain front-of-mind for all our staff.

Our people

Our team of almost 400 staff and contractors in Kurdistan and the UK are the lifeblood of our organisation. To support them, we are focused on fostering a safe, diverse and inclusive working environment that enables our people to thrive and develop their careers. We are also deeply committed to enhancing employment opportunities for local people in Kurdistan and we place a strong emphasis on hiring directly from our local communities in the Shaikan Field.

Our purpose and values

As a purpose-driven business, GKP exists to develop natural resources for the benefit of all stakeholders by delivering social and economic benefits by working safely and sustainably with integrity and respect.

Our culture is underpinned by six core values which provide the building blocks for how we operate and get things done as a team. It is by embodying these values that we can deliver our purpose and meet our strategic objectives.

To ensure we live these values every day, we hold regular meetings, briefing sessions and town hall sessions, as well as carrying out regular employee surveys, to give our people the opportunity to share their views, listen to our progress and understand our shared direction.

Diversity and inclusion

We seek to create a strong culture in which the principles of diversity and inclusion are promoted across the business. As detailed in our Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, we treat all people fairly, equally and without prejudice irrespective of their gender, sex, age, race, disability, sexual orientation or any other attributes.

We work hard to build an inclusive culture that creates a strong sense of belonging and purpose. We believe our individual differences and unique cultural perspectives add value to our expertise and enable us to find innovative solutions to solve challenges. As at 31 December 2025, our workforce was comprised of 24 different nationalities.

We also recognise that we operate in an industry with low rates of female participation. As a result, we make a concerted effort to attract and retain female talent, improve the balance of our workforce and to create opportunities for the development and promotion of women into senior leadership roles. GKP’s Global Women’s Network focuses on driving professional development and advocacy for women across the organisation. In 2025, the proportion of women in our workforce was 14%, a slight decrease relative to the prior year (2024: 15%).

Case study: Global Women’s Network

The Company has established the Global Women’s Network (“GWN”) whose purpose is to create additional growth opportunities for women within the business and to help us drive inclusivity and representation. The network is sponsored by our Chief Executive Officer and focuses on:

• delivering opportunities to enhance and upskill leadership skills;
• fostering an inclusive environment where women can support one another through a strong network;
• achieving a positive impact and contributing to GKP’s gender diversity and inclusion efforts; and
• demonstrating our core values of safety, social responsibility, trust through open communication, innovation and excellence, integrity and respect, and teamwork.

Generating economic value for Kurdistan

Since our entry into Kurdistan in 2007, GKP has created significant economic value for the region. To date, the Company has invested with its partners over $3 billion gross in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, $2 billion of which has been spent in the Shaikan Field and over $1 billion across three other licences which have since been relinquished. GKP and other International Oil Companies (“IOCs”) have funded all at-risk capital to develop the region’s industry, which has been enabled by the mutually beneficial risk and reward structure of our Production Sharing Contract.

We are committed to the employment of local people, who in 2025 accounted for 82% of our total workforce in Kurdistan. We also direct a significant amount of expenditure every year to local suppliers, who accounted for 50% of our purchasing and contracting in 2025. Local supplier purchasing and contracting has been steadily increasing over the past three years.

GKP’s investment, as well as the size of the Shaikan Field and its track record of profitable production growth, has made the Company a key participant in the rapid development of the Kurdistan oil industry. The Shaikan Field alone has generated over $1.4 billion of revenues for the government in the last five years.

Local community engagement

Our relationships with local communities are critical to our licence to operate. There are over 30 villages in the Shaikan area close to our operations; by listening and responding to their needs and by supporting valuable community initiatives, we have been able to make a lasting impact.

We work in close collaboration with our local communities to identify programmes that promote economic growth, social development and shared prosperity. Our community focus is split into three core areas. Firstly, we support regional agriculture – the second largest sector of Kurdistan’s economy after oil and gas. Secondly, we support local education and enterprise projects. And thirdly, we support Good Neighbour projects that provide vital community infrastructure, such as power and water, and protect public health and safety.