LONDON (Bloomberg) — Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd., the Bermuda-based company that explores for oil and gas in Algeria and the Middle East, contracted a rig from Weatherford Drilling International Ltd. to drill wells in Iraq's Kurdistan.

The contract is for a minimum of two wells and three optional wells, the company said today in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service. The first well will be drilled in early 2009 in the Shaikan Block.