Kosmos Energy, LLC, a closely held U.S. explorer in West Africa, raised $750 million in loans to fund a project in Ghana. The financing will fully fund Kosmos’s share of Ghana’s Jubilee field phase-one development, Chief Financial Officer Greg Dunlevy said today in a statement. Kosmos Energy, a Dallas-based company, used oil-field assets as collateral to secure the loans, $550 million of which mature in December 2015, Kosmos said.
Kosmos and partners, including Tullow Oil Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, have earmarked $3.1 billion to develop the offshore Jubilee field. London-based Tullow Oil said July 8 that Kosmos will accept bids for its 30 percent stake in the project until July 17. The loans include an “early-draw tranche” of as much as $300 million that Kosmos can access immediately on receipt of the Ghanaian government’s consent to the “security package,” Kosmos said today. Dunlevy was n0t available to comment on any plan to sell the Jubilee stake.
The field, located in the West Cape Three Points block and adjacent Deepwater Tano block, will produce more than the planned 300 million barrels of recoverable oil in its first phase, Kosmos said. The designed production capacity of phase one is 120,000 barrels of crude a day, it said.
Standard Chartered Bank Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Societe Generale SA, International Finance Corporation, Absa Bank Ltd. and Calyon are among financial institutions involved in the loan agreements, Kosmos said. Warburg Pincus LLC and Blackstone Group LP are investors in Kosmos.
Source(s):
Bloomberg News
