No Kosmos Jubilee stock sale until plan signed

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Kosmos Energy LLC is continuing with plans to sell its stake in oil fields discovered offshore Ghana, with an asking price of around $3 billion, but the deal can't close before a development plan is agreed between the companies involved and Ghana's government, people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.

The development plan for the Jubilee offshore field is expected to be signed within the next few weeks, said one person familiar with the matter. "There's no real concern that it won't be forthcoming," the person said.

Another person familiar with the talks said Kosmos Energy's intention to sell its stake and the Ghanaian government's financial difficulties have complicated matters and delayed the signing of the plan, but neither are insurmountable obstacles.

There are plenty of parties, including major international oil companies and large Asian oil companies, interested in acquiring Kosmos' stake in the two offshore blocks - 18% of Deepwater Tano and 38.875% of West Cape Three Points, the people said.

The exploration and development plan has been led by U.K.-listed Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN). Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) is also a partner in the fields. Both have preemption rights for Kosmos stake.

Ghana's government will need to approve the buyer, the people said.

The blocks contain the Jubilee field with up to 1.8 billion barrels of oil and the Tweneboa field with up to 1.4 billion barrels, although it is uncertain if the smaller field contains oil or gas condensate.

Tullow plans to begin production from Jubilee in the second half of next year, starting at around 40,000 barrels of oil a day and eventually building up to 120,000 barrels a day. It plans to drill a second well to appraise Tweneboa in September.

Dallas-based Kosmos, owned by private-equity firms Blackstone and Warburg Pincus LLC, has appointed Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) and Barclays PLC ( BCS) to conduct the sale.