Exxon Mobil to buy Ghanaian field stake: sources

LONDON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) has agreed to buy a stake in Ghana's Jubilee field, three sources close to the matter said on Tuesday, highlighting how a series of oil finds have brought West Africa to the center of the global oil stage.

The world's largest non-government controlled oil company by market capitalization beat off competition from western and Asian oil companies to purchase the interest in the multi-billion barrel field from private equity-backed Kosmos Energy, the sources said.

Shares in Kosmos's partners in the field, UK-based oil explorer Tullow Oil (TLW.L) and Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum (APC.N), jumped on the news, on hopes the sale price, which was not disclosed by the sources, would imply higher valuations for the field than the market had so far ascribed.

"The field could be worth $6/share to Anadarko. That's not reflected in the share price," one hedge fund manager said.

Anadarko shares traded up 4.8 percent at $64.62 at 1418 GMT (10:18 a.m. EDT), while Tullow shares traded up 7.7 percent at pence at 1,201 pence.

The sale will likely yield a big payday for private equity groups Blackstone Group (BX.N) and Warburg Pincus WP.UL, Kosmos's backers.

Blackstone shares traded up 4.5 percent at $14.29.

Blackstone invested $220.1 million in Kosmos in March 2004 from its fourth buyout fund BCP IV, according to an investor letter previously seen by Reuters. It valued that investment at $602 million at the end of 2008.

NEW OIL PROVINCE

The Jubilee field is one of the biggest oil discoveries in recent years and a discovery by Tullow and Anadarko offshore Sierra Leone last month prompted hopes of a series of major fields running across Ghana, Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Kosmos put its 30.875 percent stake in the West Cape Three Points block and an 18 percent interest in the Deepwater Tano block offshore Ghana, in which Jubilee is located, on the market earlier this year, industry sources previously said.

The auction attracted bidding interest from Western oil majors and state-owned Asian energy giants, those sources said.

Termination notices have been sent to the losing bidders, one of the sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Analysts have put widely varying valuations on the field. While some said it could be worth over $10 billion, one industry source said on Tuesday that a figure of $4 billion was more likely.

Exxon, Anadarko, Kosmos and Tullow declined comment.

(Additional reporting by Matt Daily and Megan Davies in New York)

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Rupert Winchester and Elaine Hardcastle)