Texas-Based Kosmos Claims Major NatGas Find in Senegal

Texas-based Kosmos Energy has reportedly discovered 25 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas in what amounts to the company’s fifth such discovery in the Senegal-Mauritania fairway.

The discovery was made in the company’s deepwater Teranga-1 exploration well in the Cayar Offshore Profond block, offshore Senegal.

According to press releases, the well is in 1800 meters of water and has hit 31 meters of net gas pay, and while the initial discovery is of 25 Tcf, the Dallas-based company says there is a potential 50 Tcf to be tapped into here.

“We have opened a super-major scale basin offshore Mauritania and Senegal with world-class resource potential. Given the scale and quality of the gas resource discovered along the inboard trend, our focus is to move this resource through to development. Our forward exploration plan is to mature the two independent tests with oil potential in northern Mauritania and in the outboard of Mauritania and Senegal for drilling in 2017,” according to Kosmos CO and Chairman Andrew G. Inglis.

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So far, Kosmos has drilled five exploration and appraisal wells in this area and has met with a 100 percent success rate.

In January this year, Kosmos made the Guembuel-1 discovery, again offshore Senegal. This followed the April 2015 discovery of the Tortue-1 well offshore Mauritania and the November 2015 discovery of the Marsouin-1 well, also offshore Mauritania.

The first discovery here was described as a game-changing play-opener, and the following discoveries have successfully proven that theory, creating a fairway from Mauritania to Senegal.

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Kosmos holds a 60 percent interest in the Teranga-1 well, while partners Timis Corporation and Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (Petrosen) hold 30 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE: KOS) has also released its quarterly earnings reports, showing a net loss of US$59 million, or $0.15 per diluted share. That’s a lower net loss than last year, of $78.9 million.

By James Burgess of Oilprice.com

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