Shares in explorer Fastnet Oil & Gas surged after its partner in a Moroccan venture announced it has completed
a farm-in deal with BP.
Dallas-based Kosmos Energy announced that it has entered farm-out agreements with BP covering three licence blocks in the Agadir Basin off Morocco that include Foum Assaka in which Fastnet holds a stake through its subsidiary, Pathfinder.
Under the deal’s terms, BP will fund Kosmos’s share of one exploration well in each of the blocks, and will pay a “disproportionate” share of the costs of any second well. In return it will get a 26.325 per cent share in each licence.
Fastnet’s shares rose by more than 15 per cent at one point, making the Irish company one of the top 10 movers on London’s Alternative Investment Market.
The BP deal will leave Pathfinder with its 18.75 per cent stake in Foum Assaka. Kosmos will remain as the operator.
Fastnet's managing director, Paul Griffiths, described the agreement as an "unequivocal validation" by the oil industry of the potential of Morocco's offshore territory.
