Kosmos Energy is in an enviable financial position

Mr Joe Mensah, Vice President and Country Manager for Kosmos Energy Ghana on Thursday said Kosmos Energy was in an enviable financial position compared to their peers in the oil industry.

He said that with an active hedging programme the company had been able to shield itself from the oil price volatility, explaining that Kosmos exited the fourth quarter of 2015 with $1.8 billion of liquidity and $614 million of net debt.

Mr Mensah said “this is compared to $1.9 billion of liquidity and $517 million of net debt as of September 30, 2015. Total capital expenditures in the fourth quarter were approximately $265 million. For a full year ended December 31, 2015 total capital expenditures were approximately $780 million, below the previous guidance of $800 million”.

Mr Mensah, who made this known at a media briefing, said hedging is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movement in an asset.

He said 2016 was poised to be another challenging year for the oil industry with prices expected to remain lower, however, Kosmos with over 100 per cent reserve replacement, hoped to maintain their financial strength with disciplined allocation of capital.

On gas development, Mr Mensah said: “We expect increased delivery of gas for power generation to over 100 million standard cubic feet per day in 2016 as the government gas to power system has its capacity expanded.”

He said Kosmos was working closely with the government to plan and expand Ghana’s gas infrastructure to meet future needs.

“We made two major gas discoveries for a 100 per cent success rate in the exploration of the outboard cretaceous petroleum system offshore Mauritania and Senegal…it will be exciting years watching these wells unfold,” he said.

Mr Mensah said the company which is currently a hundred per cent Ghanaian staffed one, is committed to look for opportunities to help impact positively on the country’s development efforts.