Kosmos Energy NYSE: KOS said first-quarter production rose to a company record as the ramp-up of Greater Tortue Ahmeyim and new wells at Jubilee lifted volumes, while management said the company is ahead of schedule on its 2026 debt-reduction plans.
Chairman and CEO Andy Inglis said Kosmos is making “excellent progress” against the four objectives it set for 2026: growing production, reducing operating costs, cutting net debt and advancing its growth portfolio with limited capital spending this year.
Compared with the same quarter last year, Inglis said production increased about 25%, absolute operating costs fell about 22% and net debt declined about 7% from year-end 2025. CFO Neal Shah said quarterly production averaged a record 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, driven by GTA ramp-up and new Jubilee wells.
Operating expense was just under $20 per BOE, which Shah said was down 47% year over year and in line with company guidance. Kosmos maintained its full-year guidance, while management said second-quarter production is expected to be slightly lower than the first quarter because of seasonality at GTA and a Gulf of America well issue.
Pricing Upside Expected to Flow Through Later in 2026
Inglis emphasized Kosmos’ exposure to premium international pricing benchmarks, saying the company is among the most exposed in the U.S. E&P sector to international prices as a percentage of sales.
About half of the company’s production, primarily from Ghana, is priced off Dated Brent. Inglis said Dated Brent reached an all-time high in early April and has continued to trade at a premium to Brent futures. He also noted that West African crude differentials moved from slightly negative early in the year to a “meaningful premium” as markets tightened.
However, Kosmos does not expect the full benefit of higher pricing to appear until the second and third quarters because of contract timing. Ghana cargoes are priced around loading windows, Gulf barrels are generally sold on a one-month trailing average and GTA gas is priced on a three-month historical average tied to ICE Brent.
“We’ve seen record production, record prices and record differentials,” Inglis said, adding that the benefit of higher prices that started late in the first quarter will show up later in the year.
Jubilee Wells Support Upper End of Guidance
In Ghana, Inglis said the 2025-2026 drilling campaign at Jubilee continues to perform strongly. The J74 well came online early in 2026 and J75 followed at the end of the quarter. Gross Jubilee production averaged about 70,000 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter.
Kosmos expects second-quarter Jubilee production in the mid-70,000-barrel-per-day range, with three new producer wells expected online in June and July. Based on logging results, Inglis said those wells should add about 20,000 barrels per day gross in aggregate before natural decline later in the year as the drilling campaign concludes.
Management said year-to-date performance and upcoming activity support the upper end of the company’s 70,000 to 80,000 barrels per day gross oil production guidance for Jubilee in 2026.
Inglis also said the Jubilee partnership is aligned on securing a rig for a program of up to 10 wells, with drilling targeted to restart around mid-2027. During the question-and-answer session, he said there is no scheduled Jubilee maintenance shutdown in 2026 or 2027.
GTA Produces Above Nameplate; Expansion Advances
At Greater Tortue Ahmeyim, Kosmos said the project produced at an equivalent rate of about 2.85 million tons per annum gross in the first quarter, above the floating LNG facility’s nameplate capacity of 2.7 million tons per annum. The project lifted 9.5 gross LNG cargoes during the quarter, in line with guidance.
Full-year gross cargo guidance remains 32 to 36 LNG cargoes. Inglis said daily LNG production is expected to decline from higher winter levels as sea and air temperatures warm during the summer, then improve later in the year as cooler temperatures return.
The company also remains on track to reduce GTA operating expense per MMBtu by 50% this year, with additional reductions possible in 2027.
On the GTA Phase 1 expansion, Inglis said roughly half of the land has been cleared for the onshore section of the northern pipeline segment in Senegal, with the remainder expected this quarter. The segment will connect to the 250-megawatt Gandon power station near Saint-Louis. The West African Development Bank has been appointed mandated lead arranger for approximately $270 million of infrastructure financing, and its board approved a first tranche of about $90 million in late March.
Tiberius FID, Shell Alliance Highlight Gulf Growth
In the Gulf of America business, first-quarter production was in line with expectations, supported by the Odd Job and Kodiak fields. However, the Winterfell-2 well was shut in during April pending a future intervention, and Kosmos now expects full-year Gulf production toward the lower end of its guidance.
Kosmos and 50-50 partner Oxy reached a final investment decision on the Kosmos-operated Tiberius project. Inglis described the first phase, a single-well tieback to Oxy’s Lucius platform, as a low-cost, high-margin development, with expected development costs of about $10 per barrel and operating and transport costs of about $20 per barrel. Capital spending is expected mainly in 2027 and 2028, with first oil targeted for the second half of 2028.
Kosmos has started a farm-out process to reduce its working interest to around one-third. Inglis said there has been “significant interest” in the opportunity.
The company also highlighted its recently announced strategic exploration alliance with Shell in the Gulf of Mexico. Kosmos expects the first prospect, Trailblazer, to be drilled in the first half of 2027. Trailblazer is targeting about 200 million barrels of oil equivalent of gross resource.
Debt Reduction Target Doubled
Shah said Kosmos completed several financing actions early in the year. In January, the company issued a $350 million Nordic bond and used the proceeds to repurchase $250 million of 2027 notes and repay $100 million on its bank facility. In March, Kosmos raised about $200 million of equity, also used to accelerate debt reduction.
The company ended the quarter with about $500 million of liquidity. Shah said additional liquidity is expected from the pending sale of producing assets in Equatorial Guinea, which the company expects to close around midyear, and from future free cash flow. Lending banks have approved the Equatorial Guinea sale, with proceeds slated to further reduce the facility.
Inglis said Kosmos is doubling its 2026 net debt reduction target from 10% to about 20% by year-end, citing the Equatorial Guinea sale, equity raise and higher pricing. Shah said the company continues to target leverage of about 1.5 times in a normalized oil-price environment and is focused on bringing net debt below $2 billion as a milestone.
Shah also noted that Fitch upgraded Kosmos’ corporate rating to B-, which he said reflected the company’s progress this year. Despite stronger commodity prices, management said capital allocation remains unchanged, with free cash flow directed toward debt reduction while advancing select growth projects.
About Kosmos Energy NYSE: KOS
Kosmos Energy Ltd. is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Since its founding in 2003, the company has focused on identifying and developing hydrocarbon reserves in frontier and emerging basins around the world. Kosmos combines geological and geophysical expertise with a disciplined approach to acreage acquisition and partner selection to pursue high‐impact offshore exploration opportunities.
The company's portfolio is anchored by assets in West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.
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