Kosmos Energy (NYSE/LSE: KOS) confirms that the governments of Mauritania and Senegal have signed an Inter-Governmental Cooperation Agreement (ICA) which enables the development of the cross-border Tortue natural gas field to continue moving forward.

With this agreement in place, Kosmos expects a final investment decision (FID) for the Greater Tortue project around the end of 2018 and is aiming for first gas in 2021. Minister of Energy, Petroleum and Mines Mohamed Abdel Vetah of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Minister of Petroleum and Energy Mansour Elimane Kane of the Republic of Senegal signed the agreement in a joint meeting during the Presidential Summit held in Nouakchott, Mauritania on February 9, 2018.

Commenting on the approval, Kosmos chairman and chief executive officer Andrew G. Inglis said: “Kosmos congratulates Mauritania, Senegal, and their respective ministries and national oil companies for working together so effectively to reach an agreement that enables their shared gas resources to be developed quickly and efficiently for the benefit of both countries. The innovative near-shore LNG concept being used for Tortue positions the development as one of the lowest cost green-field LNG projects in the world. We look forward to working with BP and our national oil company partners to continue the front-end engineering design process that will enable a final investment decision around the end of 2018.”

The ICA is informed by industry best practice for the development of cross-border resources, based on the landmark Frigg Agreement of 1976 between the United Kingdom and Norway. The agreement between Mauritania and Senegal provides for development of the Tortue field through cross-border unitization, with a 50%-50% initial split of resources and revenues, and a mechanism for future equity redeterminations based on actual production and other technical data.

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