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Beleaguered Tullow Oil said on 15 January it expects to report pre-tax impairments and exploration write-offs of about $1.5bn in its 2019 results in March, mainly due to a $10 reduction in the group’s long-term accounting oil price assumption to $65/barrel and a reduction in 2P reserves at the TEN development in Ghana.Chief financial officer Les Wood told a conference call with analysts the $1.5bn was made up of $700m of impairments, for the oil price and reduction in the Enyenra field reserves, plus $800m of exploration writeoffs, notably for recent wells offshore Guyana.

Genser Energy Ghana Ltd announced in December that it had reached financial close on a $366m financing agreement that will fund the expansion of its business in Ghana. The transaction funds the expansion of existing plants and the company’s gas pipeline network, as well as new projects that have signed power purchase agreements.The package comprises a $230m syndicated loan alongside a mezzanine loan and preference shares. South Africa’s Standard Bank and Nedbank, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and existing lender Barak Fund SPC Ltd financed the senior loan.

Construction of the Pwalugu multipurpose dam in northern Ghana was launched on 29 November at a ceremony attended by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The $933m project is being built by China’s Sinohydro for the Volta River Authority (VRA) on the White Volta River on the boundary of the Upper East and North East regions. The project includes a dam with an elevation of 165 metres impounding a 350km2 reservoir, with an associated 60MW hydropower plant and a 50MW solar PV plant.

Genser Energy Ghana Limited on 6 December announced financial close for a $366m funding package including a new syndicated senior loan facility of $230m, a mezzanine loan and preference shares, described as one of the largest financings for a Ghanaian private company in international markets. Genser provides distributed power generation to industrial and mining companies including Gold Fields Ghana Limited, Kinross Gold Corporation and, more recently, Perseus Mining Limited and Golden Star Resources.

African oil industry grandee Samuel Dossou-Aworet has built a 7.06% stake in Tullow Oil following the collapse in the company’s share price. Tullow shares lost around two thirds of their value after the company on 9 December cut its Ghana production forecast and announced the departure of chief executive Paul McDade and exploration director Angus McCoss.

Springfield Exploration and Production has announced that the Afina-1 well on West Cape Three Points Block 2 contains 1.5bn barrels of oil in place and 0.7tcf of gas. Afina-1, which is located at a water depth of 1,030 metres, was drilled to a total depth of 4,085 metres and encountered light oil with a gross thickness of 65 metres, with 50 metres of net light oil pay in good quality Cenomanian sandstones.

The confusion in Ghana’s energy sector has claimed another victim, with Tullow Oil slashing its production forecast, citing lower-than-expected gas offtake. Tullow had already cut its 2019 production forecast in July and again in November, but announced on 9 December that output would be just 70,000-80,000 b/d in 2020 and around 70,000 in 2021-23, down from 87,000 b/d this year. Chief executive Paul McDade and exploration director Angus McCoss resigned “by mutual agreement and with immediate effect”.

Ghanaian independent Springfield E&P has announced a “very significant discovery” with the Afina-1x deep-water well on West Cape Three Points Block 2 in the Tano Basin. “The management of Springfield E&P, the first independent African energy company to drill in deep water, will announce the outcome of the Afina-1x discovery together with its partners, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the government of Ghana in due course,” the company said.

The Bui Power Authority (BPA) has completed work on Ghana’s first micro-hydropower plant. The 45kW Tsatsadu Generating Station in the Hohoe District, in the country’s south-eastern region of Volta, was developed under the Ministry of Energy’s renewable energy initiative. The run-of-river project, which could be expanded with the addition of another 45kW turbine, is expected to be the first in a series of small hydropower stations planned across the country by the ministry in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Tullow Oil has warned of lower-than-forecast Ghana production and disappointing crude quality in Guyana. A trading update on 13 November said full-year production from Ghana’s Jubilee field would be around 89,000 b/d, down from 96,000 b/d forecast in the H1 results in July, due to new problems with the FPSO vessel. Tullow cited “topside issues which have constrained water injection and gas handling”, saying water injection would be restored to full capacity by the end of November, while enhancements to the gas handling system were planned for early 2020.

In contrast to South Africa, where the government has managed to cool tempers inflamed after announcements that IPP tariffs might be renegotiated, officials in Ghana appear to be fanning the flames. IPPs are being pushed to renegotiate the terms of contracts at the same time as arrears from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are growing. One financier involved with several projects told African Energy that talks were under way between IPPs and the Ministry of Finance to resolve arrears without liquidity support facilities having to be drawn.

Ghana has one of the higher prices for electricity in the region, with tariffs ranging from $0.05-0.14/kWh for residential consumers and $0.12-0.21/kWh for non-residential consumers. The last substantial tariff increase in 2016 resulted in significant grid migration and the country has become a target for commercial and industrial power developers. This has placed considerable pressure on the government to try to reduce the cost of generation and improve the efficiency of the system rather than raise tariffs further to address the poor financial health of the sector.

The United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on 23 October withdrew $190m of grant funding to Ghana, the same day the government formally began the process of cancelling a concession agreement between the state-owned Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Power Distribution Services Ghana Ltd (PDS). The cancellation follows controversy over the validity of payment securities provided by PDS as part of the transaction.In a statement on 23 October, the US embassy in Accra said it had been informed of the decision on 19 October and “notes this decision with regret”.

Ghanaian independent Springfield Exploration and Production Limited spudded the Afina-1X well on West Cape Three Points Block 2 on 7 October using the Stena Forth drillship. The well will test Cenomanian potential on a similar play fairway to resources discovered by Eni to the east of the block. Springfield said it was the first time an independent African company had drilled in deep water.

The partners in Pan Andean Resources say they remain hopeful of settling the long-standing dispute over rights to Block Tano 2A, which was licensed to the joint venture more than a decade ago. Part of the block was included as Block 1 in a licensing round launched in October 2018. Block 1 was set aside for Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) as part of plans for the state oil company to become an eventual operator.