South Korea national oil firm eyes Ghana's Jubilee

ACCRA, March 19 (Reuters) - South Korea's national oil company is interested in buying a stake in Ghana's giant Jubilee oil field, the Korean firm and Ghana's state oil agency said on Friday.

'They have expressed interest in everything -- exploration, production and all the potential downstream activities,' said Thomas Manu, director of production at Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

Discussions between the two parties were at a preliminary stage, he told Reuters after a delegation from Korea met Ghanaian officials.

'Korea National Oil (Corp) is interested in participating in exploration and also in Kosmos' assets,' said KNOC President and Chief Executive Young-won Kang.

GNPC is in protracted talks to buy the Jubilee stake owned by privately-held Kosmos Energy. A Ghanaian government source said in February the government wants to block a reported deal for Kosmos to sell its interest in the field to Exxon Mobil for $4 billion.

'(The Koreans) have expressed interest in buying a portion of it if we acquire it,' Manu said.

Jubilee, forecast to begin producing later this year, has recoverable reserves of 800 million barrels, Ghana's Energy Minister Jospeh Oteng-Adjei said last month.

(Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Marguerita Choy) Keywords: GHANA OIL/KOREA ([e-mail]; Dakar Newsroom [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.