Eni Gets New Ghana Licence
Eni has been awarded a new exploration licence off Ghana, called Cape Three Points Block 4, further bolstering its position in the country's offshore.
Licensees in the new 1,127 km2 block are Eni as operator (with 42.4691%), Vitol (33.9753%), state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (10%), Woodfields Upstream Ghana (9.5556% stake) and GNPC Exploration and Production Company (Explorco, 4% stake). Water depths range from 100 to 1,200 metres. It partly surrounds the OCTP block, also operated by Eni, where the Italian firm and its partners expect to produce first oil in 2H2017 and pipe gas to shore from 2018 as part of a $7.9bn development sanctioned last year. Vitol said OCTP gas would fuel local power generation until 2036.
If exploration in block 4 is successful, it could benefit from the OCTP project infrastructures currently under development.
Eni announced the new block "following the ratification by the [Ghanaian] Parliament" but a local newspaper said this happened two weeks earlier. Woodfields is part of Ghana-based Woodfields Energy Resources, previously known as Cirrus Energy Services.
Mark Smedley