Houston-based Cobalt International Energy Inc. (NYSE: CIE) is admittedly facing some significant near-term challenges including the delay of a huge and needed payday.

The company’s $1.75 billion deal to sell its deepwater presalt Angolan assets to Sonangol is “unlikely” to close by Aug. 22 as envisioned amid difficult industry and market conditions.

Instead, Cobalt and Sonangol agreed to market Cobalt’s 40% working interest in Block 20 and Block 21, hoping a third-party will see potential in the attractive liquids-rich assets.

“Given the delay in the sale of our Angola assets we know that we must identify every opportunity to preserve cash while holding on to our core assets that we believe have exceptionally long-term value,” Cobalt CEO Timothy Cutt said Aug. 2 on an earnings call.

Cobalt has been stung by commodity prices, dry holes and the pressure to cut resources and staff to remain viable.

Cobalt has shed more than 60% of its workforce over the past several months and it has prioritized spending, lining up capital required to deliver production from core deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM) assets—Anchor, Shenandoah and North Platte—beginning in 2021, Cutt said.

Cobalt also weathered bad seas in its drilling operations in the GoM. Neither the Goodfellow #1 exploration well drilled in March nor the sidetrack that followed found hydrocarbons, leaving the company with a $149.9 million hit in the second quarter. Cobalt holds a 72.5% working interest in Goodfellow and Total E&P USA Inc. the rest.

Cobalt expects more charges related to the sidetrack in the third quarter.

At the end of second-quarter 2016, Cobalt reported having about $835 million of cash, most of which will be put to use for continuing operations in the GoM.

But the second-quarter earnings report carrying word of Cobalt’s $200.4 million net loss, up from $53.4 million a year ago, was not all doom and gloom.

“The development cost environment has improved substantially. The fundamentals for medium and long-term liquids pricing remains strong and we have delivered two new discoveries on Block 20,” Cutt said of its Angola assets.

Cobalt plans to regroup on three fronts. The company will exercise options available for the sale of its Angola assets; address its liquidity position through high-return projects; and move the company’s discovered resources into production no later than 2021, Cutt said.

“We must focus our limited resources on the highest value opportunities and continue to cut costs,” Cutt said, adding the company will not pursue deepwater opportunities offshore Mexico at this time and has closed its Mexico office. Depending on the outcome of efforts to sell its Angola assets, the company could farm down interests in other assets to generate cash and lower capital requirements.

Jim Farnsworth, chief exploration officer and executive vice president, said the Zalophus find in Block 20 offshore Angola is a gas discovery in the north part of the play. Golfinho, located in the southern part of the play, is an oil discovery along trend with the Cameia discovery in Block 21. All are presalt finds.

With seven discoveries and an 88% success rate, Cobalt said it has discovered about 1.3 billion barrels of gross resources offshore Angola.

Company officials have confidence in the attractiveness of the assets. Eighteen parties entered the data room during the last marketing effort for the Angola assets, Cobalt said, noting invitations to the data room—with updated information on fiscal terms and results from the last two wells—will be sent in the coming weeks.

“The individual reservoirs are not quite as large as you see in Brazil but the quality is just as good,” he said. “With that, lots of liquids, ability to move fairly quickly, a bit lower reservoir pressure than you’d see in Brazil and so I’d anticipate some interest.”

The outlook also appears promising for company’s assets in the GoM, where confidence is building at North Platte in the Lower Tertiary. The company is planning to move the Rowan Reliance drilliship from Goodfellow to North Platte to drill the North Platte #4 appraisal well.

At the Anadarko Petroleum Corp.-operated Shenandoah, where Cobalt holds a 20% working interest, an appraisal well hit about 1,000 ft of net pay during the second quarter. Cobalt said the next appraisal well, expected by year-end, is “expected to establish the oil water contact on the eastern flank of the field and quantify the full resource potential.”

At the Heidelberg Field, where Cobalt has a 9.375% non-operated working interest, two development wells are expected to begin production in the fourth quarter.

Velda Addison can be reached at vaddison@hartenergy.com.