PART I Item 1. Business General Kosmos is a leading independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused on frontier and emerging areas along the Atlantic Margins. Our assets include existing production and development projects offshore Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, large discoveries and significant further exploration potential offshore Mauritania and Senegal, as well as exploration licenses offshore Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe, and Suriname. Kosmos is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (‘‘NYSE’’) and London Stock Exchange (‘‘LSE’’) and is traded under the ticker symbol KOS. Kosmos was founded in 2003 to find oil in under-explored or overlooked parts of West Africa. Members of the management team—who had previously worked together making significant discoveries and developing them in Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and other areas—established the company on a single geologic concept that previously had been disregarded by others in the industry, the Late Cretaceous play system. Following our formation, we acquired multiple exploration licenses and proved the geologic concept with the discovery of the Jubilee Field within the Tano Basin in the deep waters offshore Ghana in 2007. This was the first of our discoveries offshore Ghana; it was one of the largest oil discoveries worldwide in 2007 and is considered one of the largest finds offshore West Africa during that decade. As technical operator of the initial phase of the Jubilee Field, we led an Integrated Project Team (‘‘IPT’’) that planned and executed the development. Oil production from the Jubilee Field began in November 2010, just 42 months after initial discovery, a record for a deepwater development in this water depth in West Africa. Kosmos and our partners discovered the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (‘‘TEN’’) fields in 2009, 2010 and 2012, respectively. The TEN fields are being developed through a phased manner delivering first oil in August 2016, and thus, becoming our second producing asset offshore Ghana. The project was delivered on time and within budget. Following our Initial Public Offering in 2011, we acquired several new exploration licenses and again proved a new geologic concept with the Ahmeyim discovery (formerly known as Tortue) in the deepwater offshore Mauritania in 2015. The Ahmeyim discovery was one of the largest natural gas discoveries worldwide in 2015 and is believed to be the largest ever gas discovery offshore West Africa. We have since demonstrated the extension of this gas discovery into Senegal with the successful Guembeul-1 exploration well, which we collectively call the Greater Tortue discovery. We have now drilled six successful exploration and appraisal wells offshore Mauritania and Senegal, and in aggregate have discovered a gross potential natural gas resource of approximately 40 trillion cubic feet and derisked over 40 trillion cubic feet. In November 2017, through a joint venture with an affiliate of Trident Energy (‘‘Trident’’), we acquired all of the equity interest of Hess International Petroleum Inc., a subsidiary of Hess Corporation (‘‘Hess’’), which holds an 85% paying interest (80.75% revenue interest) in the Ceiba Field and Okume Complex assets. Under the terms of the agreement with Trident, Kosmos and Trident each own 50% of Hess International Petroleum Inc. Hess International Petroleum Inc. was subsequently renamed Kosmos-Trident International Petroleum Inc. (‘‘KTIPI’’). The gross acquisition price was $650 million effective as of January 1, 2017. Kosmos paid net cash consideration of approximately $231 million at close in November 2017, after customary purchase price adjustments. The transaction is accounted for as an equity method investment. Kosmos is primarily responsible for exploration and subsurface evaluation while Trident is primarily responsible for production operations and optimization. The transaction expands our position in the Gulf of Guinea and provides immediate cash flow through 9