Eni Ghana Exploration and Production and Vitol Upstream Ghana have received a positive decision from an international arbitral tribunal regarding their unitisation dispute with the Republic of Ghana, ruling in favour of their long-standing opposition to the Ministry of Energy’s unitisation directives.

The international arbitral tribunal has concluded that the unitisation directives were wrong and unlawful and that Republic of Ghana's actions breached Ghanaian law and the terms of the OCTP Petroleum Agreement.

The ruling is also without prejudice to Eni and Vitol’s right to claim damages if the wrongful directives are henceforth enforced. Eni Ghana and Vitol remain committed to Ghana and to the OCTP project, a flagship project backed by the World Bank, which supplies Ghana a significant share of its gas for domestic use.

Eni and Vitol have consistently maintained their willingness to assess the case for and against unitisation if the process were conducted fairly, transparently and in line with best international practices and Ghanaian law.

However, they oppose the process adopted by the Republic of Ghana because of its failure to meet the applicable legal and industry requirements. Eni and Vitol value their relationship with the Republic of Ghana and hope this award will help bring this dispute to a close, thereby allowing all parties to focus on the continued development of Ghana's oil and gas sector.

Background

Eni and Vitol contested the actions of the Republic of Ghana, which had sought to compel a unitisation of the producing Sankofa oil field in OCTP with an adjacent discovery in WCTP2, the Afina discovery, which has not been appraised or tested.