Ghana: ExxonMobil Declines To Give Reasons For Withdrawing From Oil Blocks Bidding

US oil giant ExxonMobil has declined to give explanation to the media about its decision to pull out from bidding for oil block it had applied for in the West African country, Ghana, in the ongoing Licensing Bid Round.

According to the company, it does not comment on issues relating to its business to third parties.

ExxonMobil and British Petroleum (BP) had earlier submitted applications for direct negotiations for blocks 5 and 6 respectively, which energynewsafrica.com understands ExxonMobil also applied for blocks 2,3 and 4.

However, the two international oil companies pulled out at the embers.

The government, through the Energy Ministry, earmarked five oil blocks for exploration.

Three of the blocks-2, 3 and 4-were to go through competitive bidding process while two blocks-5 and 6-were supposed to be for direct negotiations.

The deadline for the submission of bids for the blocks elapsed at 3pm today, May 21, 2019.

However, at about 15:15 GMT on Tuesday, when the bids were opened in the presence of pressmen and representatives of some of the companies which were pre-qualified, ExxonMobil and British Petroleum were missing from the race.

Chief Director at the Ministry of Energy Lawrence Apaalse, told the press that the Ministry received information from the two companies, requesting direct negotiations for blocks 5 and 6 that they were no longer interested in them.

Energynewsafrica.com, therefore, called the Texas office of the company to make enquiries on why the company decided to withdraw from bidding for the oil blocks it had earlier applied for.

In a response contained in an email sent to energynewsafrica.com Operations Media Manager for ExxonMobil Todd Spitler noted that the company does not comment on thirty party speculation or rumour.

“Thank you for your inquiry. As a matter of practice, we do not comment on third party speculation or rumour,” he said.