(4 minutes read)
- Africa has been considered the new frontier of oil and gas exploration. Many major global petroleum companies are scrambling to acquire assets in the continent, where there is a huge deposit of oil and natural gas
- Countries in the Eastern bloc like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania have since seen massive development in their oil and gas infrastructure
- Ghana has emerged as an alternative destination for oil majors looking for ways in which to diversify their portfolio of assets. Ghana’s first oil and gas resources were discovered in 2007
Africa has been considered the new frontier of oil and gas exploration. Many major global petroleum companies are scrambling to acquire assets in the continent, where there is a huge deposit of oil and natural gas..
Countries in the Eastern bloc like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania have since seen massive development in their oil and gas infrastructure. Ghana has emerged as an alternative destination for oil majors looking for ways in which to diversify their portfolio of assets. Ghana’s first oil and gas resources were discovered in 2007.
One of those companies, Tullow Oil has announced investing over US$4 billion over the next decade to deliver over 50 wells spread over two fields. The oil wealth can help the country in toning up the infrastructure and strengthen the people-centric programs, using the proceeds of the oil wealth. Tullow is also taking adequate steps to make both fields continue to be consistent and reliable suppliers of natural gas since gas from the Jubilee and TEN fields contribute significantly towards Ghana’s domestic energy supply.
In April 2021, Tullow drilled four wells consisting of two Jubilee production wells, one Jubilee water injector well, and one TEN gas injector well. The J56 production was on stream in July 2021. It is slightly ahead of pre-drill expectations.
The other oil companies present in Ghana are Italian oil and gas company Eni and Heritage Oil. The latter is in the midst of attempting to secure a partner to drill two exploration wells offshore Ghana. It targets the extraction of more than 400 million barrels of oil in the area. But there are not so encouraging developments also in Ghana driven by optimism over renewable energy. ExxonMobil quit the country this year without drilling a single well. China also has started looking elsewhere since in the long term, it believes investments in oil may not be a worthwhile proposition