Africa Oil - slowly progressing

Africa Oil published its 2016 financials last night - the USD850 million company (market capitalisation) ended the year with cash-in-hand of USD463 million. The release included few updates – G&A was down c.50% year-on-year as a result of lower equity-based payments and the impact of the weak Canadian dollar on head office salaries, and the company reported a small USD6.5 million write off on its Ethiopian assets. Attention remains focused on the Lokichar Basin development - preparations for FEED are underway, the pipeline Joint Development...

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Kosmos exploration - 2017 rising stars

With a strong balance sheet, cash flow generation in Ghana and exploration/development carry provided by BP through the recent Mauritania and Senegal deal, Kosmos is well positioned to focus on its 2017+ exploration drilling plans, which will "test some of the largest prospects identified by the industry". Despite its current gassy position in West Africa, management emphasises its confidence in finding higher value liquids: "Updated hydrocarbon...

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Premier refinancing terms agreed

Following an extensive negotiation process, the terms around the refinancing of Premier Oil’s debt have been agreed. This will be followed by “lock-ups” with lenders in February and final implementation by the end of May. On 3rd February, Premier Oil announced that it had agreed with key members of the “Private Lending” group on the refinancing terms. The terms include: Retaining the existing USD3.9 billion facilities with maturity extended to May 2021 Covenants relaxed to 7.5x in 2017, 5x by end 2018 and returning to 3x by 2019 Covenant net...

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