Eni-Springfield unitisation impasse: Court orders Eni to pay 30% revenue into escrow account
Eni Ghana and Springfield have been at an impasse over unitisation talks
• A Commercial Court has ordered Eni Ghana to pay 30% of its revenue into an escrow account
Read full article•This comes after Eni Ghana and Springfield have been at an impasse over unitisation talks
• The order which takes effect from Friday, June 25, 2021
A Commercial Court in Accra has ordered oil company, ENI Ghana Exploration to pay 30 percent of its revenue generated from the sale of crude oil from the Sankofa fields into an escrow account.
The order which takes effect from Friday, June 25, 2021, comes following an impasse between Springfield Exploration Production Limited and Eni Ghana Exploration after the two entities were in 2020 directed to hold unitisation talks of oil fields after an independent study conducted by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) showed that the two oil blocks were connected.
A statement issued by Springfield and sighted by GhanaWeb following the Court’s ruling explained, “the payment amounts to approximately US$40million a month which will be directed to an account agreed by both parties.”
Adding his voice to the ruling, Chief Executive and founder of the indigenous oil firm, Kevin Okyere described the ruling as a vindication of Springfield’s position on the unitisation impasse.
He pointed that his outfit was forced to take the legal route following Eni’s reluctance to follow then- Minister of Energy’s [John Peter Amewu] directive and for all parties to reach an amicable resolution to the unfortunate impasse.
“Springfield is not interested in stalling ongoing crude oil production on the Sankofa Field, and believe in fairness and justice for all, irrespective of their size and position. The consequences of this case for the Ghanaian oil industry will be systemic and immediate,” Kevin Okyere said in a statement.
The Sankofa Oil fields form part of ENI’s Offshore Cape Three Points project and lays off Ghana’s Atlantic Coast of which the GNPC says has reserves of about 40 billion cubic meters of gas and 500 million barrels of oil.
