Kosmos Completes BP Farm-in Deal

US independent Kosmos Energy said February 23 it has received Senegal government approval and thus completed its farm-in deal with BP.

Approval by Mauritania was granted in late December and detailed in a January 4 Kosmos conference call with analysts.

Under the terms of the deal, BP has acquired a 49.99% stake in Kosmos BP Senegal Ltd, our controlled affiliate company which holds a 65% interest in the Cayar Offshore Profond and the Saint Louis Offshore Profond blocks offshore Senegal. The 65% share is a bit higher than when the original $1bn farm-in announced December 19, as Kosmos/BP acquired an additional 5% stake from Timis Corp in return for a future carry on a well in Senegal.

“Kosmos looks forward to working with the Government of Senegal and partners to move ahead with the next stage of our work program involving further exploration in the two blocks and seeking to produce first gas from the Tortue project by 2021,” said Kosmos CEO Andrew Inglis (pictured above).

Effective working interests in Senegal (Saint Louis Offshore Profond and Cayar Offshore Profond Blocks) are now: BP 32.49%, Kosmos 32.51%, Timis 25% and Senegal’s state Petrosen 10%.

On February 22, BP upstream chief Bernard Looney told the IP Week conference in London that its farm-in with operator Kosmos provides BP with access to fields offshore northwest Africa with "enormous potential to produce significant volumes of gas very competitively." BP would become operator of any LNG project developed with Tortue gas, under the December 19 deal.

Mark Smedley