- NYSE:BP agrees to acquire controlling stakes in licenses at the Tortue gas prospect offshore west Africa held by Kosmos Energy (KOS) for $916M.
- BP will become project operator and acquire a 62% working interest in KOS's licenses at four deepwater blocks off Mauritania, as well as an effective 32.49% interest in permits at two blocks off Senegal; KOS will keep 28% and 32.51% of the Mauritanian and Senegalese licenses, respectively, and will continue as exploration operator.
- By some estimates, the Tortue field could hold as much as 50T cf of natural gas, enough to meet demand in the U.K. for 20 years.
- BP says the project “brings together all the elements” needed to create a new liquefied natural gas hub in Africa, which will become an “important profit center” for its upstream business.
- The deal is the latest sign of a renewed confidence at BP, which has spent years dumping ~$40B in assets to help pay for liabilities arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster; BP recently approved a $9B development of the Mad Dog oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico and bought a 10% stake in Egypt's giant Zohr gas field, then over the weekend traded 2% of its shares for a 10% stake worth $2.2B in a UAE oil concession.