Ghana NEWS

Total will no longer pursue the acquisition of Occidental’s assets in Ghana, following a snag in the sale of assets in Algeria. When Occidental Petroleum completed one of the largest oil mergers and acquisitions of the past few years, buying Anadarko Petroleum and assuming its debt in a transaction valued at a total of US$55 billion, Occidental had signed a binding agreement to sell Anadarko’s assets.

Tullow Ghana has terminated Maersk Drilling's contract for the Maersk Venturer deepwater drillship. The rig which has been working for Tullow Ghana since February 2018 was contracted for operations until February 2022. Following the contract termination, the rig will operate only till June 2020. As of March 20th, 2020, Maersk Drilling upholds its profitability guidance for 2020 of EBITDA before special items of $325-$375 million.

Total's acquisition of Occidental Petroleum Corp’s​​​​​ assets in Ghana are being held up due to capital gains tax claim for about $500 million. Occidental is trying to get regulatory clearance for this deal and tax bill is an issue yet to be resolved. Selling Total its assets is a part of Occidental's plan to sell out at least $15 billion of assets by mid-2020.

Norway's Eni (70%) and its partner Vitol (30%) has been awarded rights to Block WB03. The block is located in the prolific Tano basin, offshore Ghana. Apart from Vitol, the joint venture will have the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and a local registered Company. Eni will be the operator of the license. This license will help Eni strengthen its presence in the country.

GOIL and ExxonMobil have entered into a Joint Operating Agreement. GOIL has informed that it will invest $25 million for the next five years in this agreement for the Deep-water Cape Three Points Area Oil exploration. This will be done through its wholly owned subsidiary GOIL Offshore Company. GOIL's CEO said, "Oil exploration is always a risky business but there’s a good chance of ExxonMobil striking oil in Ghana".

Italian oil major, Eni has informed about discovering gas and condensate in CTP-Block 4, offshore Ghana. Eni used the Maersk Voyager drilling ship to drill the well on the Akoma exploration prospect, uncovering an estimated volume of 550-650 bcf of gas and 18-20 mmbbl of condensate. Eni operates the CTP-Block 4 where Vitol Upstream Tano, GNPC, Woodfields Upstream, and Explorco are partners.

Texas-based Kosmos Energy has initiated a formal process to farm out its interest in the Mauritania-Senegal basin to around 10%. The firm is expecting bids by the end of the summer. Kosmos registered $296.8 million in revenue for 1Q2019, which is more than double, climbing on higher production in Ghana. The energy firm produced 5.1 million barrels of oil equivalent in the first quarter.

Italian oil major, Eni commenced gas production from the Sankofa field in the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) Integrated Oil and Gas Project in Ghana. The company said that the Sankofa field would supply 180 million SCFD, and will continue to do so for the next 15 years. The FPSO vessel “John Agyekum Kufuor” was deployed at the field, and production began from two fields connected to the vessel.

In a major restructuring attempt, the Nigerian-energy group, Forte Oil Plc has revealed its intentions to divest its upstream services business (Forte Upstream Services Limited); power-generating business (Amperion Power Distribution Limited) and downstream business in Ghana (AP Oil & Gas Ghana Limited). Forte Oil would be using the funds from divestment on the downstream marketing business. This move will boost its distributable earnings for the benefit of shareholders.