Aker Energy submits $4.4 billion investment plan to Energy Ministry •

Aker Energy Ghana Limited, the Norwegian oil company operating the offshore Deepwater Tano/Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) oil block in the Western Region, has submitted a $4.4 billion investment plan for developing the block to the Ministry of Energy.

The Pecan field at the DWT/CTP is estimated to hold 334 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe), with an estimated plateau production of 110,000 barrels of oil per day to last for about 25 years.

The plan for development and operation (PDO) which was developed by Aker Energy, in collaboration with a coordinating committee which had representation from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Ministries of Finance and Energy, reflects all legal and regulatory requirements that need to be addressed ahead of the final extraction of the resource.

It was also developed to reflect the national development objectives and an integrated plan for development of other prospects of the contract agreement.

Upon the approval of the plan, the partners expect to produce the first oil from the Pecan field in 2022.

Presentation

Documents on the PDO were submitted to the Minister of Energy, Mr John-Peter Amewu, last Thursday.

 The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aker Energy,  Mr Jan Arve Haugan, presented hard and soft copies of the PDO documents to the minister.

Present at the ceremony were the Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Petroleum, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, and other officials of the Ministry, the GNPC and Aker Energy.

Prospects of Aker

Mr Amewu noted that the coming of Aker Energy into the country was a major boost to the petroleum sub-sector since it would help to scale up the recovery rate of the resource from the current 25 per cent to 40 per cent in the coming years.

He announced the rolling out of Aker Energy Industrial Cooperation, an entity that would help to build the capacities and core competences of local people to begin to venture into drilling which had been dominated by foreigners.

He explained that as part of the multi-million PDO, Aker Energy would help to rejuvenate the Tema Shipyard which had been redundant over the years due to the lack of investment.

"The Tema Shipyard has been there for many years and one of the key components of the local content participation in this country is fabrication, so Aker Energy has promised to build on the Shipyard to make sure that we fabricate more of the items needed for the operation of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel," he said.

He also said the company would implement a technology that would help convert plastics into fuel to address the sanitation challenge.

Caution

The Minister of Energy, however, cautioned the company to be diligent and conduct its business with its partners in a manner that would not endanger the future of the country.

"We have seen what oil has done to some countries and we do not want to get into such a situation.

Ghana has been producing gold for many decades yet there is a total mismatch between Obuasi, the major mining city and Johannesburg in South Africa in terms of development.

 We do not want that situation to repeat with the oil that is booming in this country," he said.

Mr Amewu stressed how important it was for Aker Energy to exploit the oil in a competitive and sustainable manner to ensure that it benefited the country.

Important milestone

For his part, Mr Haugan described the submission of the development and operation plan to the Energy Ministry as a major milestone in the execution of the contract agreement for the exploitation of oil on block DWT/CTP.

The CEO of Aker Energy added that the company and its partners would work diligently to deliver on the contract agreement that had been signed so as to develop the country's oil and gas industry.

"Aker Energy has a long-term ambition to go beyond regulatory requirements to develop the local oil and gas industry through both investments and transfer of technology and skills," he said.