Chevron’s subsidiary Chevron Mauritania Exploration acquired a 30% non-operated working interest from Kosmos Energy in three blocks offshore Mauritania, Africa.
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Map from Kosmos. |
Blocks C8, C12 and C13 have a combine acreage of 27,200sq km and are in water depths ranging between 1600m and 3000m.
Kosmos will remain the operator of the blocks and retain 60% interest. Mauritania's national oil company, Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier (SMHPM), will keep its remaining 10%.
Under the terms of the agreement, Chevron will become the operator, maintaining 30% working interest, following any commercial discovery after the exploration phase.
According to Kosmos, Chevron will also pay its proportionate share of incurred exploration costs. Chevron will not initially fund drilling of the Tortue prospect, but retains the option to participate in this prospect after the transaction is completed.
The transaction is subject to the approval of Mauritania's government.
“This agreement with Chevron validates the quality and scale of our Mauritania licenses, which enabled us to successfully farm out the acreage despite the current environment,” says Andrew G. Inglis, Kosmos chairman and CEO. “The terms are consistent with our business strategy of retaining operatorship through exploration and collaborating with industry leading partners who bring significant technical expertise and strong financial capabilities.”
Kosmos’ 2015 exploration work program in Mauritania includes two wells to be drilled by the Atwood Achiever, the Tortue and Marsouin.
Tortue has estimated resources of approximately 2 billion boe recoverable across both Mauritania and Senegal. Marsouin has estimated resources about 300 MMboe recoverable and is replacing the previously announced Orca prospect in the 2015 drilling program.
Kosmos has held rights to conduct exploration in the C8, C12 and C13 contract areas since 2012 under production sharing contracts with the Government of Mauritania. The blocks are contiguous, range in water depth between 1,600 and 3,000 meters, and have combined acreage of approximately 27,200 square kilometers.
In April, Tullow Oil’s Tapendar-1 exploration well in the C-10 license, offshore Mauritania, was plugged and abandoned after not encountered hydrocarbons. Tapendar-1 was the second exploration well in Tullow’s Mauritania exploration campaign, following the Frégate-1 well in February 2014, which was a technical discovery.
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