It is now confirmed that Texas-based Kosmos Energy has agreed to sell its stake in Ghana’s Jubilee oil field to oil giant ExxonMobil. The chief financial officer of Kosmos Energy, Greg Dunlevy has confirmed the agreement, but declined to disclose the price. But earlier reports said last week that ExxonMobil made a deal offer of $4 billion. The sale is however, awaiting Ghana government approval. Meanwhile, the state-owned oil company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has also expressed interest in the deal. The China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) is also interested in buying the stake. Sections of the Ghanaian media have suggested that the Ghana government favours a China deal. The GNPC which expressed interest in buying the stake indicated that it was looking for a partner to jointly put up a bid for the stake. In spite of the fact that Kosmos Energy has now confirmed agreeing to sell the stake to ExxonMobil, reports say the CNOOC is in talks with the GNPC over the stake. Ghana announced the discovery of oil and gas in commercial quantities in June 2007. The country has since seen the influx of interest groups in the oil and gas sector into the country. Tullow Oil, a UK oil company, has a 38% stake in the country’s Jubilee oil field which it says contains about 1.8 billion barrels of oil and has 17 wells. The Jubilee oil fields is also said to be the largest to be discovered in West Africa in the last 10 to 15 years and commercial production of oil is expected to start in June 2010. Dr Kwabena Donkor, Deputy Minister of Energy had said that under Phase One of the Jubilee Field project, 120,000 barrels of oil and 120,000 million standard cubic feet of dry gas per day would be produced in 2010. Production would be increased to 240,000 barrels of oil and 240,000 million standard cubic feet of gas per day under the second phase of the Jubilee Field project which is expected to commence in 2013. According to him, “the appraisals so far conducted indicate that the Jubilee Field contains expected recoverable reserves of about 800 million barrels of light crude, with an upside potential of about three billion barrels”. Source: GhanaBusinessnews.com