Following the announcement of the commencement of negotiations in relation to the new deep-water Tano Basin acreage on September 7, 2016, Petrel and its partners in the Pan Andean consortium have been offered revised coordinates of the acreage by Ghanaian officials.

“Negotiations to formalize a revised Petroleum Agreement between the Company and Ghanaian officials will continue as agreement has yet to be reached on certain matters. The company’s directors look forward to providing shareholders with further updates, including specific geological information relating to the new acreage coordinates, as negotiations progress,” Petrel said.

The company added that no assurances can be given that the talks will yield a successful outcome or that a formal agreement will be arrived at.

In 2008, the Pan Andean consortium agreed on an exploration licence over block Tano 2A, but the agreement was never approved by the Ghanaian National Petroleum Company (GNPC), as there was a disagreement over a part of the block for which the consortium claimed was its acreage.Following deferrals in negotiations, the consortium initiated a court proceeding concerning the issue, which it later won.

However, the consortium afterwards decided to settle the matter out of court and discontinued the court matter in July 2014, and talks have been held to revise the area for exploration and production, Offshore Energy Today reports.

Pan Andean Resources is a private Ghanaian company held by Clontarf with 60% interests, Petrel Resources 30% while the remaining 10% by local Ghana interests.

Anita Fatunji