Ghana: Anadarko Seeks Approval To Sell Assets To Total SA

Ghana’s Ministry of Energy is in the process of finalising approval of the sale of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’s assets in the West African country to the French oil and giant, Total SA.

Sources within the country’s Ministry of Energy told energynewsafrica.com that there has been series of meetings between the Ministry and officials of Anadarko including a meeting during the Africa Oil Week in Cape Town, South Africa, last year.

Anadarko has been operating in the country since 2006, and until the sale of its operations last year, it owned 24.077 percent of the Jubilee Field, which is Ghana’s first oil field, and 17 percent of the Tweneboah-Enyera-Ntomme (TEN) project, an integrated oil and gas project.

So far, Anadarko has sold its operations in four African countries — Algeria, South Africa, Mozambique and Ghana.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Ghana’s Deputy Minister for Energy in-charge of Petroleum, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, who confirmed the sale processes, said: “We cannot stop anybody from selling. Except that if you want to sell, you have to meet all the requirements that we have lined up. Once they comply with that, why not?”

Dr Adam said Anadarko was supposed to furnish the ministry with 12 separate documents.

He said the company had, so far, complied with virtually everything, except a tax clearance certificate, adding that the ministry was aware that Anadarko was currently engaging with the GRA to acquire the tax certificate.

“If they are done with the negotiation, then, they will send a package of all the documents and the Minister for Energy will look at all that and approve it,” he said.

Mr Adam said although Anadarko was yet to satisfy all the requirements necessary for the transaction to be consummated, the ministry was excited about the entry of Total SA into the oil sector in Ghana, given its size, clout and experience in the industry.

“We want Total; we want all the ‘big boys’ in the industry in Ghana. We have a lot of potential and, therefore, when you have big companies, they first of all help de-risk your investment environment and, secondly, there is a potential for them to invest,” he said.

“It may also want to compete for another block and then bring new investments into that block. So these are advantages that will come to the country,” he added.

Source: www.energynewsafrica.com