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Ghanaian explorer Springfield Exploration and Production Limited has signed a contract with Stena Unicon Offshore Services Ghana to use the Stena Forth drillship for two wells on West Cape Three Points (WCTP) Block 2.“The campaign will first target the Oak-1x well, on trend with the Beech discovery made on the Deep Water Tano Cape Three Points Block to the south-west of WCTP Block 2,” Springfield said.

Only a few months after the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) distribution business was transferred to Power Distribution Services Ghana Ltd (PDS) on 1 March, the government has suspended the concession. “The decision follows the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of payment securities (demand guarantees) for the transaction which have been discovered upon further due diligence,” the Ministry of Information said in a 30 July statement.

Aker Energy has attracted a $100m investment from Lagos-Based Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as it prepares to develop the Pecan field on the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) Block. AFC bought $100m of convertible bond notes with a commitment to participate in follow-on fundraising activities. The funds will be used by Aker Energy to finance the Pecan development, and AFC has also received equity warrants with the right to subscribe to shares in Aker Energy in future equity offerings.

German solar-rental company Redavia has begun operating a fifth plant in Ghana. The company has deployed a 90kWp system to supply Movelle Company in Takoradi. The plant will be expanded by a further 84kWp in a second phase. The contract includes installation, maintenance and technical monitoring of the project, which supplies Movelle’s cold storage site. Movelle trades frozen fish in West Africa.

The Ministry of Energy has awarded licences for two oil blocks in the Tano Basin after evaluating bids received in the country’s first licensing round, which launched in October 2018. The companies will now be invited for negotiations on detailed terms, the ministry said. Eni and Vitol were awarded Block WB03. Eni, which will operate the licence, said that beside Vitol the joint venture would include Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and a local company to be identified during the phase of contract finalisation.

The long-awaited 340MW Kpone Independent Power Project at Tema began commercial operations on 10 June. The project is owned by Cenpower Generation Company Ltd and is the first project-financed greenfield thermal plant in Ghana. Development has been challenging, taking more than a decade, and a dispute with the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Group Five Power International meant that the plant had to be commissioned by a specially assembled technical team.

Eni has announced a gas and condensate discovery with the Akoma-1X well on Cape Three Points Block 4, 12km from the Sankofa production hub. The well was drilled by the Maersk Voyager drillship to a total depth of 3,790 metres in a water depth of 350 metres. The well contains an estimated 550-650bcf of gas and 18-20m bbls of condensate, with further upside potential for both gas and oil. The well was the first to be drilled on the block, which was licensed to Eni in 2016.

Operator Aker Energy submitted a development plan to the Ministry of Energy on 28 March for the Deepwater Tano/Cape Three Points Block. The Integrated Plan of Development and Operations (PDO) presents an overall plan for a phased development and production of the resources in the contract area, starting with the Pecan field, which was discovered by Hess in 2012. Once the PDO is approved by the Ghanaian authorities, the partners will work towards a final investment decision (FID).

Aker Energy announced on 4 March that it encountered oil in the Pecan South-1A well on the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) Block. A sidetrack will now be drilled to further appraise the volume potential. The Pecan South-1A well was drilled south of the main Pecan field, discovered by Hess in 2012. “The drilling result is another confirmation of the geological model for the area. The discovered resources from the well will further strengthen the robustness of the Pecan field development.

CrossBoundary Energy Ghana (CBE) announced on 15 February the entry into commercial service of a 400KWp rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at a bottling facility in Accra owned by local beverages producer Kasapreko. The installation is Ghana’s first power purchase agreement (PPA)-financed solar plant for a commercial customer, according to CrossBoundary Energy, an investment fund that finances off-grid solar rooftop projects for companies in Africa.

Deputy energy minister responsible for power William Aidoo has said the formal handover of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to a consortium led by the Philippines’ Manila Electricity Company (Meralco) will happen on 1 March. Aidoo was speaking at the Powering Africa Summit in Miami on 26 February. Meralco will hold an initial 30% stake in the consortium alongside Angola’s Aenergia (19%) and Ghanaian companies TG Energy Solutions (18%), Santa Baron Ventures Ghana (13%), GTS Engineering Ghana (10%) and TBK Ghana (10%).

Helius Power Company invites prequalification applications by 12 March for the implementation of a rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) plant with an installed capacity of around 12MWp and associated network at the Tema Free Zones Enclave. Helius, the power generation subsidiary of Southern Utilities, part of Ghanaian conglomerate LMI Holdings, said it has secured financing for the project, which is to be installed on the 92,000m2 roof space of Mega Warehouse, owned by LMI subsidiary International Warehouse Company.

The transfer of management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to Power Distribution Services Ghana Ltd, which is owned by a consortium led by the Philippines’ Manila Electricity Company (Meralco), is expected to take place on 1 February, Millennium Development Authority (Mida) chief executive Martin Eson-Benjamin told a media briefing in Accra this month.Mida is responsible for implementing Ghana’s $469.3m compact with the US’ Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Operator Aker Energy has announced results from the Pecan-4A appraisal well on the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) Block. The well was drilled to a vertical depth of 4,870 metres in 2,667 metres of water, with the aim of confirming Aker’s understanding of the geology and identifying deep oil-water contact in the Pecan reservoir. “Based on these results, we will optimise the plan of development (POD) for the Pecan field.

Sixteen companies have submitted applications for one or more of five offshore blocks in Ghana’s first exploration licensing round, according to the energy ministry. The companies are Tullow Oil, Eni, Kosmos, Vitol and Aker Energy, which all have existing operations in Ghana, and potential newcomers Total, Cairn Energy, Harmony Oil and Gas Corporation, ExxonMobil, CNOOC, Qatar Petroleum, BP, Global Petroleum Group, First E&P, Sasol and Equinor.