We are working to find acceptable solution to unitisation stalemate - Eni

Eni and Vitol say they are working with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum Commission and GNPC to find a mutually acceptable solution to enable the Country to capitalise on the Afina discovery.

"In principle, we are not opposed to unitisation, but this needs to follow an appropriate, shared work programme and evaluation process to assess the elements listed above before taking decisions in the interest of all parties," Eni Ghana Managing Director, Mr Giuseppe Valenti has said in a statement.

The statement said unitisation was appropriate when a hydrocarbon accumulation straddles a contract area boundary, hydrocarbons from one contract area can migrate into the other contract area; hydrocarbons are commercially producible on both sides of the contract area boundary, and the hydrocarbon accumulation can be developed as one unit for an optimum petroleum recovery and operational efficiency.

This entails an appraisal programme of the Afina area, including (but not limited to) production and interference tests to understand the potential benefit that a unitisation of the Sankofa field and the Afina discovery could deliver.

"Eni is trying to find out if there is a viable solution that could be beneficial to all parties. The timing for finding a viable solution is driven by the goodwill of the parties to share data and cooperate."

It said many unreliable and ungrounded data are circulating, which risk confusing the public.

"We have recently been able to work on the data, thanks to the intervention of the Ministry of Energy, and delivered our analysis in the direction of finding a viable solution regarding the potential optimisation of the recovery of oil reserves," it said.

"In any case, parties to a unitisation agreement have to contribute to the costs and liabilities deriving from the development and production of hydrocarbons, related facilities, and other expenses.

To have a right to the hydrocarbons produced and in proceeds from the production, each party must first pay its share of the costs of producing hydrocarbons from the unitised field.

"We are confident that the analysis and the resulting report will allow the parties to progress discussions toward an agreeable, commercial solution of the matter," it said.

The statement said Eni had negotiated and executed more than 130 unitisation and pre-unitisation agreements around the world (Australia, Algeria, Angola, USA, Croatia, Italy, Mozambique, Nigeria, Norway).