President Akufo-Addo has made a firm commitment to ensure a peaceful resolution of the Eni Ghana and Springfield dispute.

“I have had two separate meetings with the key figures involved from our side and on the side of Eni to try and find a common ground that will enable us to deal with this matter without litigation.

"It hasn’t happened so far, but I want to assure you that we will continue to discuss it to find an amicable solution,” the Special Guest of Honour at the maiden edition of the 'Ellembelle Business Expo' said.

He further noted that this request that has been made by the Nzema-Manle Council sits well with him and he is willing to do his best to make sure that it happens.

The President’s comments and commitment came as a result of an appeal made earlier by Awulae Amihere Kpanyinli lIl, Paramount Chief and President of the East Nzema Traditional Council, during his address at the Business Expo. 

The Awulae appealed to the President to intervene to have the dispute between ENI Ghana and Springfield resolved amicably.

The Expo was organised under the theme 'Harnessing Our Investment Opportunities for a Sustainable Job Creation in Ellembelle'.

In April 2020, then Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu, in accordance with Section 34(1) of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 2016 (Act 919), directed ENI and Springfield to execute unitisation with respect to the Sankofa field in the OCTP and Afina discovery in the WCTP contract areas.

Prior to the directive, the Minister had been satisfied by a geophysical and geological analysis in March 2018, which showed that the Sankofa Cenomanian Reservoir extended into the WCTP Block 2 contract area.

The situation saw the industry stakeholders calling on the government to encourage the companies to use arm’s length dialogue and a common-sense approach to resolve the differences between the companies to produce oil from the straddling fields.

The current Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, earlier this year told state newspaper, Daily Graphic that until recently when the parties resorted to the court to resolve certain issues, government was engaging the parties to speed up the process towards unitisation.

That notwithstanding, the minister said, the ministry was committed to ensuring that the issues were resolved expeditiously to enable the unitisation of the fields for optimum recovery of petroleum from the fields for all parties.

He said the ministry was working hard to ensure that there was an optimum recovery of petroleum through activities that conformed with international best practices.