Just as Ghana based oil and gas conglomerate, Vitol Group, operators of Sankofa field for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on Monday announced the successful delivery of its first gas from the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP), industry analysts say chances are that Ghana may soon begin to cut imports.
The share structure of OCTP Integrated Oil and Gas Project is made up of Eni 44.44 per cent Operator, Vitol 35.56 per cent and GNPC 20 per cent.
Vitol in a press statement made available to Business Hilights Ghana Bureau chief, averred that the deliveries are the beginning of what it calls “stable supplies of cost effective and environmentally friendly domestic fuel for Ghana’s power sector.”
Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) has started delivery of gas from the Sankofa field to GNPC, marking the beginning of stable supplies of cost effective and environmentally friendly, domestic fuel for Ghana’s power sector.
“The estimated net cost of gas to Ghana will be less than $4.5/MMBtu, greatly reducing Ghana’s fuel costs compared to liquid fuels or imported gas,” it said.
According to Vitol, “the project will provide approximately 180 MMscf/d for at least 15 years, sufficient to supply half of Ghana’s power generation requirements”.
“It is the only deep offshore non-associated gas development in sub-Saharan Africa entirely destined for domestic consumption and will guarantee stable, reliable, affordable gas supplies to Ghana with estimated energy cost savings of up to 40% per year for the State,” it noted.
The exploration giant revealed further that gas is flowing from two of the four deep water subsea wells and gas volumes will increase gradually as the country’s downstream gas infrastructure undergoes further commissioning.
It would be recalled that first oil was achieved in May 2017, three months ahead of schedule. With the completion of the OCTP gas facilities, OCTP overall oil and gas production can reach up to 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day once the gas and condensate production has been fully ramped up, Vitol noted.
The multibillion dollar scheme benefited massive funding support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA of the World Bank Group and UK Export Finance.
