AfrOil: ExxonMobil in talks on return to Ghana following exit in 2021

The US super-major ExxonMobil has begun talks on returning to Ghana after exiting in 2021, the West African country’s energy minister said on October 23.

Matthew Opoku Prempeh was quoted by Asaase Radio as saying that the company is weighing several options. “ExxonMobil intends coming back to Ghana, [which is] interesting,” Prempeh said without providing further details, adding: “We have already started talking.”

ExxonMobil had told the Ghanaian government in May 2021 that it was exiting the country’s upstream petroleum sector, where it had been conducting exploration work after acquiring rights in 2018.

The US giant had been allocated the Deepwater Cape Three Points (DWCTP) block, 57 miles (91.7 km) offshore Ghana, where it held an 80% interest and was expected to complete the full six-year exploration period. But it made a decision to exit the project ahead of time in 2021, immediately after completing its contractual obligations for the initial exploration period of two and half years.