Eni Loses Court Case Against Ghana, Springfield E&P

A High Court in Accra, capital of Ghana, has dismissed a suit filed by Italian oil and gas major, Eni, against Ghana’s Attorney General and Ghanaian upstream player, Springfield Exploration & Production Limited.

Eni Ghana Exploration & Production Limited and Vitol Upstream Limited in April 2021, went to court seeking a judicial review of a directive by Ghana’s Ministry of Energy asking them to unitise the Sankofa field and the Afina Oil Block in West Cape Three Points Block 2 Area (WCTR2) operated by Springfield.

They wanted a “declaration that the purported directives of the Minister for Energy dated 14th October and 16th November 2020, purportedly in posing terms and conditions for the unitization of the Afina Oil discovery in West Cape Three Points Block 2 Area (WCTR2) and Sankofa Cenomanian Oil Fields Sankofa field in offshore Cape Three Points Area (OCTP) are illegal.”

The plaintiffs were also seeking a “declaration that the Minister did not follow due process of law in issuing the purported directives.”

Again, the plaintiffs wanted an “order of interlocutory injunction restraining the respondents from taking any step to seek to enforce the purported directive pending the final determination of this application.”

However, the court, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Kwesi Mensah dismissed the application, finding among others that the motion paper to the application was incompetent.

The court indicated that a reading of the affidavit in support of the application confirmed that the application did not state the reliefs claimed by the application in the proceedings before the court.

“It is my view that this omission to state the relief or remedy sought by the applicant in the affidavit in support of the application violates the provisions of Order 55 Rule 4(2)(c) of the Rules of Court,’’ a local newspaper, Daily Guide, quoted the judge as saying.

Again, Justice Mensah held that “the subject matter of the application is a directive made by a minister of state and the application is, therefore, not targeted at any judgment order, conviction or another proceeding.

He said the application before the court also does not pray the court for an order of certiorari, and for that reason, the provision of rule 3 (2) of Order 55 of C.I. 47, did not apply to the matter for reckoning time.

The court also held that the affidavit filed by the applicants in support of their application was incompetent as the affidavit was deposed to by one Abena Owusu who described herself as the Legal Manager of Eni Ghana Exploration & Production Limited but did not state what her connection with Vitol Upstream Limited was.

Justice Mensah finally held that “a careful read through Section 34(1) of the Petroleum Exploration Act, (Act 919) of the year 2018 does not show that the Energy Minister’s directive violated the said provisions of the law.”

The court, therefore, dismissed the application and awarded a cost of GH¢10,000 each in favour of the Attorney General and Springfield Exploration & Production Ltd.

Below is the court ruling
High Court Ruling – ENI-Vitol v AG and SEP – Judicial Review – 21st October 2021 (1)

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com