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AfrOil: Developments in Ghana’s offshore zone

Ghana’s offshore zone is in the spotlight this week, with Eni (Italy) losing a court case to a local company and state-owned Ghana Oil (GOIL) seeking a new partner to replace ExxonMobil (US) in the DW/CTP project.

Springfield Exploration and Production, a privately owned Ghanaian company, has scored a victory in its legal battle with Eni over the unitisation of two licence areas known as Sankofa and Afina. Ghana’s Energy Ministry had ordered the companies to combine the two sites last year, and Springfield filed suit against Eni when the latter did not comply.

Last week, the Commercial Court in Accra took Springfield’s side and ordered the Italian major’s local subsidiary to pay 30% of revenues earned from oil sales into a joint escrow account. “The payment amounts to approximately $40mn a month, which will be directed to an account agreed by both parties,” the Ghanaian company explained in a statement.

Meanwhile, Alex Adzew, the COO of GOIL, has said that his company hopes to team up with another firm, as it is committed to moving forward with exploration work at DW/CTP. Even though ExxonMobil (US) has decided not to proceed, GOIL is aiming to find another partner that is willing to absorb the risk, he said last week.

“With such activities, you do the seismic [survey] and interpret the data, but there’s a risk that every company will put in such explorations. ExxonMobil felt that there was no need to drill further to find oil because the risk on this particular [project] is high,” Adzew said.

“What we have done as a company is to continue to explore and look for partners who will [join] us,” he added.