The Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has invited investors in London to visit Ghana and take advantage of the numerous opportunities in Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry.
According to the Minister, who led the Ghanaian delegation, the Deep-Water Cape Three Points Block, Offshore Cape Three Points South Block, Shallow Water Cape Three Points Block and Southwest Saltpond Block are the six available oil blocks for massive investment. They also include the Offshore Cape Three Points South (OCTPS) Block and the Expanded Shallow Water Tano (ESWT) Block.
The Minister stated this at a strategic roadshow event at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London on Thursday.
Dr Prempeh asserted that Ghana has four sedimentary basins of significance to oil and gas namely; Western, Central, Eastern and the Voltaian. He said the Western basin has Ghana’s three actively producing deep-water oil and gas fields. He added that the Voltaian Basin was onshore and the remaining two are largely offshore. Most parts of the offshore basins are open for E&P activities.
“GNPC is currently exploring the Voltaian Basin to establish its prospects, following which the basin will be open to investors,” he said.
The Minister informed investors that the Jubilee Field was Ghana’s first commercial deep-water discovery, heightening investor interest in deep-water exploration in Ghana.
“We accelerated the development of the Jubilee Field and the first commercial oil production began in December 2010, just 40 months after discovery,” he stated.
He added that “Two new fields (Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) Field and Sankofa – Gye Nyame Field) have since been brought onstream for production in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The three producing fields currently provide an average daily production of about 150,000 bbl./d from a peak production rate of approximately 200,000 bbl./d.”
“Three of the six available blocks are available for farm-in opportunities. These are Expanded Shallow Water Tano (ESWT) currently operated by Base Energy Ghana Limited and Deep-Water Cape Three Points (DWCTP) originally operated by ExxonMobil, but now operated by Goil Upstream Limited. The third of these is the Offshore South-West Tano, operated by OSWT & EK Operating Company Limited” he noted.
Dr Prempeh went on to state that Ghana has a stable political and business climate, a highly prospective sedimentary basin with a high exploration success rate, guaranteed and attractive fiscal terms and a well-defined legal and regulatory framework.
He also emphasized the existence of an existing architecture to support infrastructure-led exploration, which reduces the time between exploration and production. As a result, he urged investors to find a friend and partner in Ghana.
It may be recalled that Dr Prempeh in September last year led similar road shows in Houston and Aberdeen, all in an attempt to position Ghana’s upstream sector strategically for the needed investment.
Irene Wirekoaa Osei, ISD
