Ghana risks losing $30bn in oil find by Aker Energy, according to IMANI

April 26, 2019 6:46 PM

A policy think tank, IMANI Africa, has disclosed that the Ghanaian government risks losing $30 billion in the recent oil find by Aker Energy Ghana Limited.

Vice-President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil,

According to IMANI Africa, Aker’s current exploration activities are illegal since they discovered the oil after the company’s exploration licence had expired in 2014 and have failed to go through the right processes.

IMANI believes the Pecan X and Pecan Y in the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block (DWT/CTP) are essentially not covered by any of the Petroleum Agreements (PA) in force, hence those additional finds require a new Petroleum Agreement to be negotiated under the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2016 Act 919.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, the Vice-President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, asked why the government has not taken action to secure what is due to the country.

“Those two blocks are controlled and owned by Aker. So, it is a curious trend that if it comes to that we don’t seem to pursue our rights and to get the most from our oil.”

Aker’s find is about 450-550 million barrels, with potential recoverable reserves of nearly one billion barrels, a discovery touted as the biggest in the oil sector in Africa.