Kosmos Names New Exploration Chief after Tracey Henderson Leaves for Apache Affiliate

Kosmos Energy Ltd. promoted Tim Nicholson to head its exploration team on April 12 following the departure of the company’s former exploration head Tracey K. Henderson for an affiliate of Apache Corp.

Based in Dallas, Kosmos is a full-cycle deepwater independent oil and gas E&P company with key assets offshore Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico plus development offshore Mauritania and Senegal. Meanwhile, APA Corp., which Houston-based Apache spun off earlier this year, explores for and produces oil and gas in the U.S., Egypt, the U.K. and offshore Suriname.

Henderson joins APA from Kosmos to serve as its senior vice president of exploration, filling a position left vacant since the resignation of industry veteran Steven Keenan in late 2019.

While with Kosmos, Henderson served as chief exploration officer and contributed to the discovery of the Jubilee Field offshore Ghana, one of the largest oil discoveries offshore West Africa in a decade. Prior to joining the company in 2004, she established her record of exploration success at Triton Energy where she was a project geologist working on the Ceiba, Okume, and Oveng oil discoveries offshore Equatorial Guinea, according to the Kosmos website.

In a statement commenting on Henderson’s appointment, APA CEO and President John J. Christmann IV said: “Her global experience and technical expertise will be a strong complement to our exploration efforts and recent discoveries offshore Suriname. ... We are looking forward to the expertise, energy and leadership she will bring to APA.”

In a separate release, Kosmos named Nicholson as senior vice president and head of exploration. The company also announced the promotion of John Sino as senior vice president and chief geoscientist.

Both Nicholson and Sino joined Kosmos in 2018 and have been integral to the company’s infrastructure-led exploration (ILX) efforts over that period, primarily in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Equatorial Guinea, according to Andrew G. Inglis, Kosmos Energy’s chairman and CEO.

“As we see momentum return to our ILX activities in 2021, I am delighted to have two highly experienced, oil finders leading our exploration efforts. ... We have a deep hopper of high-quality ILX opportunities, a strong bench strength of exploration talent and have already seen early success in 2021,” Inglis said in a statement.

The Kosmos release also noted that Nicholson and Sino both were formerly at Cobalt International Energy where they were responsible for several large discoveries in West Africa (Angola) and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (North Platte, Anchor and Heidelberg).