There is the less likelihood that Italian oil giant ENI and Springfield impasse may dampen investor confidence and repel investors into the upstream petroleum sector, findings of a survey by energy think tank, the Institute for Energy Security has revealed.

In its policy document, the IES said the current incidence is seen as a normal industry issues and not unique to Ghana, and for that matter, no investor may be deterred simply by the impasse.

However, it said “the public find as worrying government’s silence on the matter given that its directive has been disregarded. The public is more concerned about the potential loss of opportunity to maximize government’s earnings and build Ghanaian operatorship capacity should the unitization statement persist."

It therefore recommended that government should break its silence on the matter, indicating the progress made so far, and its current stance on the unitization directive to the parties, adding, this is necessary to clear any misconceptions and misgivings held by the public and the parties to the discussion.

“Government must continue to play the role of a mediator to help the two oil firms overcome the resistance to a workable solution. As an arbiter, it must provide guidance to the parties and assist in the implementation of the agreed roadmaps”, it stressed.

Furthermore, it called for a possible out of court settlement, with government urging the parties – ENI and Springfield -to stay proceedings in court and agree on mutually accepted timelines to resolve the impasse in the boardroom.

“Should the parties fail to reach a resolution within the agreed period and timelines, the court proceedings can be revived”, it added.

ENI Ghana has been exploring and producing oil and natural gas from the Sankofa Gye Nyame fields in Offshore Cape Three Points Area since May 2017 as part of an integrated oil and gas project in Ghana.

The Sankofa together with the Gye Nyame field had since 2017 to end 2020 produced closed to 199,000 million standard cubic feet of natural gas and 52 million barrels of oil, exporting over 49% of the natural gas to the Ghana National Gas Company pipeline for mainly power generation.

ENI is the operator of OCTP Block with a 44.4% participating carrying interest. The other partners are the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) with 20% and Vitol with 35.56%.