Kosmos Energy has taken control of Yakaar-Teranga, offshore Senegal, following BP’s withdrawal.
The US-based company now has a 90% stake in the project and has taken over as operator, subject to government approval. The field holds around 25 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Kosmos chairman and CEO Andy Inglis said the move was a “major value creation opportunity for Kosmos. Yakaar-Teranga is one of the crown jewels of Senegal’s growing energy sector”.
The company hopes to develop the field to supply local demand in addition to exporting LNG.
Inglis said that such a project could displace local heavy fuel oil demand. “In addition, the project is expected to deliver LNG export volumes to global markets, further establishing Senegal as an important and reliable supplier of energy to the world.”
Kosmos, he continued, intended to deliver “a project that is aligned with the country’s strategic development plan, ‘Plan Sénégal Emergent,’ to drive social progress and inclusive economic growth in Senegal for many years to come”.
The development plan involves 550 million cubic feet per day of gas production. The company would export some amount of this into Senegal, via a pipeline. It would export the rest via a floating LNG (FLNG) vessel.
Project planning is in an optimisation phase, which it will follow with front-end engineering and design (FEED).
Partnership plans
Kosmos Petrosen should “participate as an equal partner in the full value chain with a greater working interest”.
The two companies will work on how to achieve this. Kosmos said they would consider up- and midstream expertise, in addition to financing and accessing markets.
Petrosen’s director general for the upstream, Thierno Seydou Ly, said Kosmos brought a “new approach to the development of Yakaar-Teranga”.
The project is a “key asset for the government’s ‘Gas-To-Power’ and ‘Gas-To-Industry’ initiatives, which aim to provide affordable, abundant, and cleaner energy as part of the country’s ‘Plan Sénégal Emergent.’ With a simplified and aligned partnership, we look forward to advancing the project, increasing Petrosen’s expertise through knowledge and skills transfer, and providing economic, social, and environmental benefits to the people of Senegal.”