ENI-Springfield at an impasse over unitisation of oil fields
Development of oil fields to remain slow
US$31.22 billion in value was generated from three oil fields in 10 years – PIAC report
The Economist and Intelligence Unit has forecasted oil production in Ghana will further rise in the country’s existing oil fields from 2022 to 2025.
The London-based firm in its recent five-year forecast
Read full article.for Ghana released on April 13, 2022, indicated that while production may surge, development work on new sites will remain rather slow.
“A final investment decision (FID) on the Pecan offshore oilfield (managed by Aker Energy, a Norwegian firm) was originally scheduled for 2020 but has been delayed indefinitely. We expect the FID to be announced in 2022, with production to begin in 2024 (delayed from the previous target of 2022).”
“The government has set a new deadline of May 2022 for the unification of the existing Sankofa (which has been operational since 2017 under Italy's Eni) and adjoining Afina oilfields (discovered in 2019 by Ghana's Springfield, but without an approved Plan of Development)," the report noted.
The EIU said although development work at the Afina oilfields has not commenced with previous deadlines for unification missed due to concerns about commercial viability from Eni; there has been limited transparency regarding due diligence work undertaken at the oilfield.
“The government has pushed for stringent terms regarding profit-sharing,” it pointed out.
The EIU report further said indigenous oil exploration company, Springfield will struggle in its quest in terms of financing and technical capacity to develop the site independently, due to its small size.
“We do not expect the project to be developed within the forecast period, owing to the long timescale needed to produce and approve plans, find suitable commercial partners and then begin production. Despite limited development work, rising oil output (from existing fields and Pecan from 2024) will boost real GDP growth to an annual average of 3.4% in 2022-25. This oil-led growth will counteract a fall in demand from the government and the private sector as monetary and fiscal policy tightens,” the EIU said.
File photo of rigmen on an oil rig
