Kosmos Energy Ltd. said it expects to resume development drilling on Ghana’s multibillion-dollar TEN deepwater oil and gas project in early 2018, rather than around the end of this year as it previously expected.
U.S.-listed shares of Kosmos rose as much as 4.7% to a near two-and-half-year high of $8.48.
Tullow Oil Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Ghana National Petroleum Corp and PetroSA also have stakes in the TEN project.
Dallas, Texas-based Kosmos is working with the partners to bring a second rig into Ghana in 2018, CEO Andrew Inglis said on a post-earnings call Nov. 6.
In September, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea drew an ocean boundary favoring Ghana in a maritime border dispute with its neighbor Ivory Coast, opening the way for development drilling to resume on the TEN project.
The decade-old row between the two West African neighbors has slowed the development of oil fields.
Kosmos also estimated it would require two shutdowns in 2018, resulting in about four weeks of downtime, to stabilize the turret of the FPSO vessel at its Jubilee Field in Ghana. An issue with the turret bearing was identified in February 2016. The company had previously planned a shutdown of 5 to 8 weeks in late 2017.
Planning for the rotation of the vessel in the Jubilee Field is also ongoing, with work expected to begin around year-end 2018, Kosmos said.
During third-qaurter 2017, Kosmos said its gross sales volumes from Ghana averaged about 160,000 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d), including volumes from the Jubilee and TEN fields which averaged about 100,000 bbl/d and 60,000 bbl/d, respectively.
Recommended Reading
New BOEM Regulations Raise Industry Decommissioning Obligations by $6.9B
2024-04-15 - Under new regulations, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimates the oil and gas industry will be required to provide an additional $6.9 billion in new financial assurances to cover industry decommissioning costs.
US Interior Department Releases Offshore Wind Lease Schedule
2024-04-24 - The U.S. Interior Department’s schedule includes up to a dozen lease sales through 2028 for offshore wind, compared to three for oil and gas lease sales through 2029.
US Finalizes Big Reforms to Federal Oil, Gas Drilling
2024-04-12 - Under the new policy, drilling is limited in wildlife and cultural areas and oil and gas companies will pay higher bonding rates to cover the cost of plugging abandoned oil and gas wells, among other higher rates and costs.
From Satellites to Regulators, Everyone is Snooping on Oil, Gas
2024-04-10 - From methane taxes to an environmental group’s satellite trained on oil and gas emissions, producers face intense scrutiny, even if the watchers aren’t necessarily interested in solving the problem.
BWX Technologies Awarded $45B Contract to Manage Radioactive Cleanup
2024-03-05 - The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management awarded nuclear technologies company BWX Technologies Inc. a contract worth up to $45 billion for environmental management at the Hanford Site.