Kosmos Energy announced today that it has executed two Production Sharing Contracts with Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V., the national oil company of Suriname, for Blocks 42 and 45 offshore Suriname.
The addition of the acreage is a significant expansion of the Company’s exploration portfolio and represents Kosmos’ first acreage acquisition outside of West Africa.
Combined, the two blocks cover an area of nearly 3 million gross acres, in water depths of between 650 and 8,500 feet. Block 42 is an area of over 1.5 million acres and block 45 is approximately 1.3 million acres. Kosmos will be operator of both blocks with a 100 percent working interest. Neither of the blocks has previously been drilled. In the initial exploration phase under each of the contracts, Kosmos plans to acquire 3D seismic data. The Company targets first drilling as early as 2014.
Paul Dailly, Senior VP of Exploration , commented, “Kosmos is delighted to have captured this significant exploration opportunity in a recently-proven hydrocarbon system. Consistent with our strategy to focus in frontier and emerging areas with substantial upside, we were able to obtain early access to a very large acreage position. The concept is an extension of the Upper Cretaceous stratigraphic play system that we unlocked on the West African side of the South Atlantic Transform Margin. We have now exported that same geologic theme to a new geography, and we look forward to progressing towards first drilling.”
[mappress] Offshore Energy Today Staff, December 14, 2011; Image: Staatsolie