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Block A1 is located in the deepwater section of the offshore zone (Image: Africa Petroleum)

The ministry described Block A1 as a licence and reprocess 2D and 3D seismic data from the
area that had previously been assigned to BP block and conduct an environmental impact
(UK) but then “became available in August 2021 assessment (EIA) within that period, but it did
after the company exited the block” within the not uphold its commitment to drill an explora-
framework of its wider effort “to pivot from pro- tion well by July 29, 2021.
ducing resources to integrating energy.” BP’s failure to meet this milestone came as no
BP’s exit occurred after approximately sev- surprise. The company had announced in July
eral years of legal wrangling over the fate of the 2020 that it did not intend to proceed with work
block. The British company obtained a licence at Block A1, owing to a change in its corporate
for Block A1 in July 2019, about two years after strategy that favoured low-carbon energy initi-
the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy stripped atives. Subsequently, it began negotiations with
exploration rights from Africa Petroleum, an The Gambia’s government on meeting require-
affiliate of Norway’s Aker Energy, citing the ments for backing out of the project.
company’s failure to uphold its investment com- Block A1 was one of two licence areas taken
mitments during a two-year exploration period. from Aker Energy in 2017. The other is known
As it had done with Aker, the ministry as Block A4. Africa Petroleum contested the
awarded BP a two-year exploration licence. The withdrawal of its licence and regained control
British major did meet its obligations to acquire over the asset in 2020, following a court battle. ™

Ghana seeks investment for TOR repairs

GHANA THE Ghanaian government is seeking strategic
partners willing to provide the capital required
to rehabilitate the dilapidated state-owned Tema
Oil Refinery (TOR).
Minister for Public Enterprises Joshua Cud-
joe made the announcement while speaking to
local media outlet Joy News, saying that inves-
tors in the facility would be expected to provide
funds for the extensive repair work needed to
overhaul the plant.
“Given the revenue constraints that the state The Tema refinery has a throughput capacity of 45,000 bpd (Image: TOR)
has at the moment and capitalisation of TOR to
enable it to turn around, the Finance Minister 56-year-old facility has an effective throughput
Ken Ofori Atta would let you know, and I sup- capacity of only 30,000 bpd.
port that we won’t use tax money to go and fix Reports in May 2021 suggested that the refin-
it,” he said. ery had depleted all of its feedstock, with oper-
The 45,000 barrel per day (bpd) facility has ations halted for maintenance and repair works
been plagued by issues, since early 2017, when to begin. Frustrations surfaced later in the year,
an explosion occurred at its distillation unit. with local outlet Modern Ghana reporting in
The plant was then closed completely between August that refinery staff had “recently locked
July 2020 and January 2021. Its crude distillation up some management staff.”
and fluid catalytic cracking units have experi- Meanwhile, state utility ECG said in Decem-
enced outages, while only one of the CDU’s fur- ber that it had cut electricity supplies to TOR fol-
naces is currently operational. As a result, the lowing the facility’s failure to pay $4.3mn of debt.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 09•February•2022