On 6 August 2018, Dallas-based Kosmos Energy announced an agreement to buy Deep Gulf Energy (DGE) from private equity firm and principal backer First Reserve Corporation for USD 1.225 billion. The deal has Kosmos paying USD 925 million in cash and USD 300 million in newly issued Kosmos common shares. The transaction is expected to close around the end of the third quarter 2018. With the acquisition of Deep Gulf Energy, Kosmos gains entry to the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico (DWGOM) and boosts its estimated 2P reserves by some 80 MMbbl of oil equivalent, or 40%, from over 200 MMboe to some 280 MMboe. DGE operates or has a participating interest in 12 deepwater fields, mainly located in the oil-rich and infrastructure-laced Mississippi Canyon area, and owns a working interest stake in 37 DWGOM leases. Kosmosâ principal area of operations has been along the west coast of Africa, particularly offshore Ghana where it discovered the giant Jubilee oil field in 2007. More recently, the company has made several major natural gas discoveries offshore Mauritania and Senegal and holds exploration licenses offshore SÃ£o TomÃ© and PrÃ­ncipe, Suriname, Morocco and Western Sahara.  In the press release announcing the DGE deal, Andrew G. Inglis, Kosmos chairman and chief executive officer, said, âWith this acquisition, Kosmos continues to grow into a larger, more balanced exploration and production company withâ¦ a portfolio of short- and longer-cycle exploration opportunities.â He added, âOver the last four years, Kosmos has doubled production, and this acquisition creates the platform to double production again in the next four years. With many competitors leaving the Gulf of Mexico to chase onshore shale plays, a huge opportunity has opened in the basin. The best deepwater assets can compete with the best of shale, and now is a good time to enter the Gulf of Mexico.â
Kosmos Energy is entering the Gulf of Mexico with a USD 1.225 billion cash/share acquisition of Deep Gulf Energy. The deal adds ca. 25 000 boe/d of net production (from fields such as Gladden, Danny, Sargent, Off Job and Tornado) and 80 MMboe of 2P reserves to Kosmosâ portfolio.