Springfield Exploration and Production (E&P) Limited, an independent upstream player in the Republic of Ghana and its partners, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and GNPC EXPLORCO, on Wednesday, officially announced the discovery of 1.5 billion barrels of crude and gas at its Afina-1 well in Block 2, offshore Ghana.

“Springfield has more than doubled its discovered oil in place volume to 1.5 billion barrels and added 0.7tcf of gas. The current undiscovered potential of the Block is estimated at over 3 billion barrels of oil and gas in multiple leads and prospects within various proven reservoir units,” a statement from Springfield E&P said.

Afina-1, which is located at a water depth of 1030 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 light net oil pay in good quality Cenomanian sandstones.

The secondary target in Turonian age sand was drilled at the edge of the structure and encountered 10 metres of hydrocarbon bearing sands consisting of light oil and gas.Springfield is currently the Operator and Majority Interest Holder (84%) of WCTP Block 2, with GNPC and its exploration company, EXPLORCO, holding the remaining interest.

Commenting on the discovery, Chief Executive Officer of Springfield, Kevin Okyere said: “This is great news for Springfield, Ghana and Africa. We are excited about the discovery as its ties into our vision of becoming a leading African upstream player with a global focus. This, for us, means increased opportunities to impact the lives of our people positively with the resources.”

On his part, Dr K. K. Sarpong, Chief Executive of GNPC, said: “As the national oil company of Ghana, GNPC is proud of this feat, chalked in this all-Ghanaian partnership. This achievement fits into GNPC’s strategic pillars of: ‘replacing and growing reserves’ as well as ‘enhancing sustainability through local content development.”

“This discovery demonstrates once again the high prospectivity of Ghana’s sedimentary basins and the Ghanaian capacity to deliver, given the opportunity.”

About Springfield

Springfield Exploration and Production Limited was incorporated in March 2008 to pursue exploration and production opportunities in Ghana and the West African sub-region. The process of acquiring a block began in 2012, but this was finally awarded by the Government of Ghana in March 2016.

The Company is currently the Operator and Majority Interest Holder of West Cape Three Points Block 2, with the Ghana National Petroleum Company and its exploration company, EXPLORCO holding the remaining interest. From 2016 until now, the company has been building capacity for both upstream and downstream operations with a significant mix of experienced international industry practitioners working alongside their Ghanaian counterparts. In April 2017 Springfield, which is a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, contracted the world’s largest seismic vessel, the Ramform Titan owned by Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) to undertake a 3D broadband seismic data acquisition on its Block.

Source:Energy News Africa

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Pump Attendants will soon be licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the broader procedures to inject professionalism into the sector to reduce accidents concomitant with gas usage.

The EPA has, therefore, rolled-out initial processes towards the licensing regime which requires that every LPG Attendants must go through “Environmental Safety and Best Practices Training (ESBPT),” under the tutelage of the agency.

The ESBPT syllabus has been divided into phases for the next one year which involves theoretical classroom and practical field training leading to the award of the initial certificate of participation, after which the attendants would be monitored for adherence to best practices.

The Attendants would again go through another theoretical classroom and practical field training at the end of which he or she would be licensed to operate as a Certified Professional LPG Pump Attendants.

Mr John Alexis Pwamang, EPA Acting Executive Director explained that enrolling into the first phase, which is classified as the Transitional Period is voluntary, but after the period it would become mandatory for every attendant to acquire the Certified Professional LPG Pump Attendant license before employment.

He, therefore, appealed to LPG Owners and Dealers as well as Pump Attendants to enroll in the on-going EPA Environmental Safety and Best Practices Training, which seeks to raise awareness about the hazards of LPG and the preventive mechanism available.

Mr Pwamang noted that the training also targeted Owners, Dealers, and Station Supervisors to ensure that “we adhere to international best practices in our operations in the country”.

He said EPA was collaborating with other technical partners such as the Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana LPG Operators Association (GLiPGOA), Department of Factories Inspectorate, National Petroleum Authority among others.

Mr Pwamang explained that the certification emanated from the background that the series of gas explosions and gas-related fire outbreaks in the country, which had resulted in the loss of lives and property was attributed to lack of understanding and failure to observe simple safety protocols.

He said investigations into these incidents and accidents revealed a number of causes, the most critical and common one being that most of the workers along the supply chain do not have the requisite knowledge and skills required to work.

“It is as a result of these revelations that the regulatory institutions decided to organsise a training programme to Train and Certify all the operators to ensure that LPG risk is reduced to the minimal level in the country,” The EPA Executive Director stated.

The EPA Acting Executive Director, therefore, called on the LPG Marketing Companies and other stakeholders to enroll their attendants to participate in the training; “Dealers and Owners must also participate in the training as it will help you protect your investment through the best-administered practices”.

The current series are targeted at the pump attendants across the country. It will, therefore, be organised in all the 16 regions.

Togbe Adaku V, President of GLiPGOA commended the EPA for the effort to support and introduce professionalism in the operations of LPG sector; “We consider this as efforts to help us investors, owners, dealers and attendants to protect our lives, customers, investment, and others who patronise our products”.

He, therefore, appealed to LPG Operators to take advantage of the transitional period to train their attendants, “Get knowledge and understanding for dealing with LPG for knowledge is power, EPA is offering us the power to operate in a safe environment”.

Mr Andrew Owusu Baafi, LPG Safety Expert who was a resource person at the training explained that like all forms of energy, LP gas was potentially hazardous if mishandled or misused.

He, therefore, advised owners and dealers to take advantage of the expertise within the LP gas industry to ensure an informed and uniform approach to good safety practice.

Mr Baafi noted that controlling risks guarantees the health and safety of people and safeguards property and environment, “the danger is always present. Only the risk is reduced by behaviour.

“LPG is potentially hazardous from production until it has been used. So every uncontrolled release is a hazardous activity and should receive urgent attention. Thus, even the smallest gas leak can be detected and should receive appropriate and immediate attention”.

He said the hazards associated with LPG could occur during transportation, delivery or consumption of the gas and to manage the hazard attendants needed to understand everything.

—GNA

The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) company has written off 50% of the BOST overstay fees charged to Bulk Distribution Companies. This follows successive negotiations between the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) and BOST. The BOST overstay charges has been a matter of contention between the two sides because in as much as the BDCs’ products may have kept longer in BOST’s depots, BOST also failed to release products on-demand, furthering the overstay and resulting in higher costs to BDCs.
The Chamber and BOST have now agreed to equally share the cost of the overstay fees. The agreement covers all members of the CBOD.

Global oil-producing group OPEC and its allies are meeting in Vienna, with expectations raised over whether the alliance will make further cuts to its output at the two-day gathering.

The 14 members of OPEC and a group of allied non-OPEC producers led by Russia (collectively known as OPEC+) are expected to at least keep production cuts at their current level of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) through to June 2020.

The current agreement is due to expire in March but there’s speculation that the group could opt to cut further — if Russia agrees. OPEC meets on Thursday and the group will be joined by its non-OPEC allies on Friday — with a final decision likely that afternoon.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $62.87 on Thursday morning, down around 0.2%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $58.29, almost 0.4% lower.

Oil prices have rallied in recent trading sessions, boosted by intensifying speculation about the potential for deeper production cuts. However, Brent crude futures remain around 15% lower when compared to an April peak, with WTI down 12% over the same period.

Deeper production cuts ‘very realistic’

On Thursday, a Reuters report, citing two unnamed sources from OPEC+, said the main scenario for discussions on Thursday would be whether to deepen oil cuts by more than 400,000 bpd.

Helima Croft, RBC head of global commodities strategy, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy in Vienna on Thursday that a production cut of 400,000 bpd was “potentially a very realistic option.”

“I think this actually is something which is very much a live option. We are actually hearing that this was not a proposal that the Iraqi’s made but that it was a proposal made by the Saudi government,” Croft said.

“And so, the fact that this is potentially coming from Saudi Arabia — the driver of the OPEC bus — I think means that we should give it a lot more credibility than if it is coming from a country that is very compliance-challenged like Iraq.”

On Monday, a separate Reuters report suggested Riyadh wanted to deliver a positive surprise to the market before the partial listing of state producer Saudi Aramco. It also indicated OPEC+ would seek to deepen cuts by at least 400,000 b/d to the current deal.

Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban has since publicly endorsed a 400,000 bpd production cut, telling CNBC on Wednesday that the current level of production cuts was “not really that effective.”

Ghadhban’s comments raised eyebrows among some external observers, with many quick to point out that OPEC’s second-largest oil producer was also one of its most chronic over-producers.

Iraq has consistently violated output cut agreements due to its complicated political situation and heavy reliance on hydrocarbon revenues for reconstruction after years of war.

What’s the context?
The OPEC+ group (amounting to 24 countries) has cut its collective production since January 2017 in a bid to counter increasing global oil supply from the likes of U.S. shale oil producers and lackluster demand.

OPEC+ was prompted to act after global oil prices tumbled in mid-2014 due to an oversupply but U.S. shale producers are not a part of the deal and shale oil supply has grown exponentially.

The U.S. is now the world’s largest oil producer hitting 12.3 million bpd in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, up from 11 million bpd in 2018. It produces more oil than Saudi Arabia and Russia now, although there are signs that production growth is slowing in the States.

Along with rampant shale supply, faltering demand due to a global economic slowdown, exacerbated by the Sino-U.S. trade war, has once again threatened to unbalance oil supply and demand dynamics.

—CNBC.com

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) has participated in an all-important national dialogue on electoral violence ahead of the 2020 general elections, organized by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The event premiered a chilling documentary on political vigilantism and electoral violence. It also shared research findings from ongoing fieldwork in some selected elections hotspots across the country.
The national dialogue session also looked at the impact of electoral violence on individuals and organizations, both public and private.
It was attended by representatives of the main political parties; the National Democratic Congress’ Chairman Ofosu Ampofo and Director of International Relations Alex Segbefia and representatives from the New Patriotic Party as well. Other attendees were from civil society organisations and private companies.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) has had engagements with the National Investment Bank (NIB) on the oil and gas industry. CBOD CEO Senyo Hosi during talks with the Treasury and Investment department of the NIB on Monday, gave an overview of the petroleum industry, a breakdown of the value chain and some investment opportunities in the industry.
Senyo Hosi responded to questions from the members of staff bordering on trade credit risks, pricing, illegal fuels and fuel quality among others.
Mr. Hosi commended the NIB for the initiative to precede any future investment into the sector with knowledge acquisition.

The Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF) has held its Annual Delegates Assembly Meeting in Accra. The delegates assembly agreed to have broader discussions about its having a re-look at the Local Content agenda for members and reviewing the constitution to reflect current trends.
The delegates also accepted to increase the auditor’s fee after accepting the financial statement presented.

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has signed an agreement to refine 11million barrels of crude.

The agreement – a tolling crude oil processing agreement between Tema Oil Refinery and Woodfields Energy Resources Limited, a wholly Ghanaian-owned oil trading company, is backed by the world’s largest oil and gas trader.

Woodfields Energy’s long history with the Refinery and knowledge of the energy business in Ghana and Africa led them to originate and lead this transaction. The contract would ensure that TOR continues the processing of crude oil into the foreseeable future.

According to the Managing Director of TOR Isaac Osei, the Refinery is currently operating a tolling model where it processes crude oil for and on behalf of third parties at a fee.

This arrangement places minimum or no risk at all on the refinery as the processor since the crude oil is purchased, transported and marketed by the third party.

Mr Osei explained that the third parties who enter into tolling agreements with TOR are confident in the new operating efficiency philosophy as well as the transparency at TOR and are thus motivated to do business with TOR.

He said although the current arrangement covers processing crude oil at CDU, the RFCC which is currently under nitrogen pressure would also soon be engaged after negotiations between TOR and some potential partners are completed.

Mr Osei who was answering questions from Energy reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing African Refiners Association conference in Accra mentioned that aside from the current tolling agreement with Woodfields Energy, TOR is also negotiating to sign similar tolling agreements with other international traders like Gemcorp, BP, and other traders.

The former Cocobod CEO attributed this development at TOR to guarantees on plant efficiency and effectiveness.

“After a careful diagnosis of TOR’s challenges, the Board and Management met with the workers and charged them to work efficiently in order to restore the company to its glorious days and I’m happy to announce that with this new operating philosophy at TOR, our trading partners have realized that TOR is technically viable and could indeed give them value for money with the right structures in place”, Mr. Osei stated.

He explained that TOR’s new philosophy of ‘operating efficiency’ is centred around the company’s Utilities section (Power House), the power generation hub of the refinery.

Currently, TOR uses Refinery Fuel Gas (FG) that is generated as a by-product of the refining processes at RFCC and CDU.

This fuel gas generated at TOR is however inadequate to fire the various heaters in the refinery. The shortfall, Mr Osei explained is made up with Fuel Oil in the form of AR or Cracked Fuel Oil, a high-value product, a situation Mr Osei observed used to erode the refinery of its profit margins.

To surmount this challenge, Mr Osei revealed that the commerce and technical teams ensured that TOR came up with both long and short term strategies.

In the short term, the company has negotiated that all processing agreements with third parties should cater for the challenge of using AR to power the boilers in the refinery.

In the long term, however, TOR has set up a technical team which has presented an actionable plan to link TOR to VRA (Volta River Authority) to tap gas from the WAPCO (West African Gas Pipeline Company) pipeline to fire the furnaces and boilers instead of using Fuel Oil”, Mr. Osei stated.

It will be recalled that when the Isaac Osei team took over the company in 2017, the plants at TOR had missed three cycles of scheduled shutdown maintenance and this affected its reliability and performance.

The Board at one of its earlier meetings, therefore, decided to embark on the much needed shut down maintenance to improve upon the performance and reliability of both the CDU and the RFCC.

—JoyBusiness

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) has partnered with Sompahemaa Foundation set up by Mrs. Irene Kyei-Mensah Bonsu to provide free health screening for residents of the Suame constituency in the Ashanti region. The Chamber supported the Foundation with an amount of GHS 10,000 towards the health screening program.
Many patrons who participated in the health screening were diagnosed and treated of ailments, given medication and others were referred to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for further examination.
Medical personnel and other volunteers attended to children and adults who thronged the event.

The Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors is commiserating with the Chairman of Hask Oil Company ltd. Joseph K. Horgle following the passing of his wife Mrs. Mary Abla Adogo Horgle. A CBOD delegation visited the Horgle family to pay their respects last Friday. The delegation including Juwel Energy Limited Marketing & Business Development Manager Joshua Larbi and some staff of CBOD was led by the Board Chairman & CEO of Cirrus Energy Ivy Apea Owusu and the CBOD CEO Senyo Hosi last.
Senyo Hosi told Mr. Horgle that the team, upon hearing of the sad news decided to come and sympathize with Mr. Horgle and the entire family over their loss. Mrs. Apea Owusu also expressed “Yaako” [condolences] to the bereaved family.
Mr. Horgle thanked the delegation from CBOD and announced the funeral of his late wife is scheduled for the 14th of December 2019 at Savi near Akatsi in the Volta region.