Ghanaians Worried About Gov’t’s Silence On ENI, Springfield E&P Impasse -IES Survey

The Government of Ghana’s deafening silence on the impasse between Italian oil and gas firm, Eni, and indigenous Ghanaian upstream player, Springfield E&P, has been described as worrying and sends bad signal to the investing community, a survey conducted by the Institute for Energy Security (IES) has revealed.

Out of the total number of respondents who participated in the survey, 77 percent of them said the government’s silence on the issue was worrying while the 23 percent thought otherwise.

“For the huge number of persons who are concerned, they explained that because the Government issued the directive, and is responsible for managing the resources of the country, it cannot be silent on the subject matter,” a portion of the survey report read.

The report said the Government, as an interested party, should pressurise the two parties to expedite action on the unitisation directive or else it may appear as week in stamping its authority on what the law says.

Ghana, they say loses as the impasse persists and thus must concern the Government in getting the parties talking while it plays its role as the referee and the final authority.

“The respondents contend that as an independent body, though with interest, it must be seen to be enforcing the petroleum laws and regulations, while it has two at the table,” it noted.

The report said those who do not find the Government’s silence as worrying explained that they have to monitor proceedings first before passing comments on the matter.

When the respondents were asked as to which institution is most appropriate to resolve the current impasse, majority of them voted in favour of the Government of Ghana.

“Of the four, the Government was found by the respondents as the most appropriate party to resolve impasse, followed by ENI-Springfield combination.”

It went on to say that the public sees the Government as the body most capable of intervening and helping the parties to bring the unitisation impasse.

“The next is that the public have much confidence in the two (Eni and Springfield E&P) parties coming together to the table to deal with whatever misunderstanding that may exist, rather than resolving to individual approaches,” stated the research.

The result, according IES, shows clearly that when the Government and the parties engage in a more transparent manner, some result of mutual benefit can be obtained.

IES’Recommendation on the issue