Kosmos Energy bags first acreage off Equatorial Guinea

Dallas-based Kosmos Energy has secured its first production sharing contracts offshore Equatorial Guinea. 

The company signed three PSCs with the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons and Equatorial Guinea’s national oil company, GEPetrol, for the Block EG-21, Block S and Block W offshore Rio Muni.

Block EG-21 was offered for tender during the EG Ronda 2016 oil and gas licensing round. Block S and Block W, previously operated by CNOOC and PanAtlantic Energy respectively, were negotiated directly with Kosmos and were not offered under the open bidding round, the ministry said in a statement.

Block EG-21 covers 2,495 square kilometers, Block S covers 1,245 square kilometers and Block W is 2,254 square kilometers. In each block, Kosmos will hold an 80 percent stake and GEPetrol will control the remaining 20 percent.

The PSCs stipulate minimum work programs that comprise a first exploratory period of three years, which include acquiring seismic data, a second exploratory period of two years, which includes drilling an exploratory well, and the possibility of two one-year extensions, which include requirements to conduct seismic interpretation and drill another exploration well, respectively.