IT has now been established why the Ministry of Energy discontinued negotiations with First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company and Elandel Energy Limited in respect of Block GH_WB_02 and ENI Ghana Exploration and Production Limited and Vitol Upstream Tano Limited in respect of Block GHWB03 in the year 2023.
This decision was made because of the expiration of the Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Government represented by the Ministry of Energy and the parties.
It is on record that the last petroleum agreement signed was in 2018 and that the whole of 2023, there was no single petroleum agreement signed. Currently, crude oil in Ghana is produced from three Fields namely Jubilee, TEN and the Sankofa Gye-Nyame (SGN).
For the year 2023, a total of 48,247,036.61 barrels were obtained from the three producing fields lower than the 2022 figure of 51,756,481.12 barrels by about seven percent. First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited and Elandel Energy Limited have rekindled their interest and the Ghana Negotiation Team is currently engaging them to finalize a new agreement.
That aside, several investor companies have approached the Ministry expressing interest in various opportunities in the upstream industry.
Among these companies are Planet Oil and Gas Limited, which in February 2024 acquired stakes in the Deepwater Cape Three Points (DWCTP) Block to partner with GOIL Upstream Limited.
This was contained in the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) 2023 report on the management and use of petroleum revenues. The PIAC report continued that the Ministry of Energy was also negotiating with a company for exploration rights over a block in the onshore Tano Sedimentary Basin and is evaluating applications received from investors for some blocks.
The Jubilee South-East project was also completed following the successful drilling of wells and installation of subsea infrastructure in the Mahogany area within the Greater Jubilee Field.
About 30,000 barrels of oil have been added to the existing daily jubilee production to ensure a sustained target production above 100,000 barrels per day.
UPDATE ON GNPC ACQUISITION
The PIAC report also observed that following a further extension granted Aker Energy (the operator of the DWT/CTP contract area) in 2022, the company in April 2023 submitted its Plan of Development (PoD) for the Pecan Field in the DWT/CTP block and same was reviewed by the Petroleum Commission (PC) and approved in June 2023 by the Ministry.
In March 2023, the operator of the South Deep Water Tano Contract Area, AGM Petroleum Ghana relinquished its interest in the block.
Following the ministerial directive for the Afina and Sankofa fields to be unitized, Eni Exploration and Production Ghana Limited (the operator) and Vitol Upstream Tano Limited disagreed with the directive and decided to seek redress in the International Court of Arbitration.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney General (AG) was officially notified in August 2021 of the filing of UNCITRAL Arbitration by ENI and Vitol at the ICA in London against the Republic of Ghana and GNPC for breach of the petroleum agreement in respect of onshore Cape Three Points Contract area. The arbitration hearing was held between late July and early August 2023 and the verdict is pending.
