contain such an outbreak quickly. Such outbreaks may impact our ability to explore for oil and gas, develop or produce our license areas by limiting access to qualified personnel, increasing costs associated with ensuring the safety and health of our personnel, restricting transportation of personnel, equipment, supplies and oil and gas production to and from our areas of operation and diverting the time, attention and resources of government agencies which are necessary to conduct our operations. In addition, any losses we experience as a result of such outbreaks of disease which impact sales or delay production may not be covered by our insurance policies. An epidemic of the Ebola virus disease occurred in parts of West Africa in 2014 and continued through 2015. A substantial number of deaths were reported by the World Health Organization (‘‘WHO’’) in West Africa, and the WHO declared it a global health emergency. It is impossible to predict the effect and potential spread of new outbreaks of the Ebola virus in West Africa and surrounding areas. Should another Ebola virus outbreak occur, including to the countries in which we operate, or not be satisfactorily contained, our exploration, development and production plans for our operations could be delayed, or interrupted after commencement. Any changes to these operations could significantly increase costs of operations. Our operations require contractors and personnel to travel to and from Africa as well as the unhindered transportation of equipment and oil and gas production (in the case of our producing fields). Such operations also rely on infrastructure, contractors and personnel in Africa. If travel bans are implemented or extended to the countries in which we operate, or contractors or personnel refuse to travel there, we could be adversely affected. If services are obtained, costs associated with those services could be significantly higher than planned which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and future cash flow. In addition, should an Ebola virus outbreak spread to the countries in which we operate, access to the FPSOs could be restricted and/or terminated. The FPSOs are potentially able to operate for a short period of time without access to the mainland, but if restrictions extended for a longer period we and the operator of the impacted fields would likely be required to cease production and other operations until such restrictions were lifted. Risks Relating to Our Common Shares Our share price may be volatile, and purchasers of our common shares could incur substantial losses. Our share price may be volatile. The stock market in general has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. The market price for our common shares may be influenced by many factors, including, but not limited to: • the price of oil and natural gas; • the success of our exploration and development operations, and the marketing of any oil and natural gas we produce; • operational incidents; • regulatory developments in Bermuda, the United States and foreign countries where we operate; • the recruitment or departure of key personnel; • quarterly or annual variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us; • market conditions in the industries in which we compete and issuance of new or changed securities; • analysts’ reports or recommendations; • the failure of securities analysts to cover our common shares or changes in financial estimates by analysts; 68