Aker Energy secures funding for offshore oil project in Ghana

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), an infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, has decided to finance Aker Energy’s deepwater project located offshore Ghana by investing in $100 million of convertible bond notes with a commitment to participate in follow on fund raising activities.

Aker Energy said last week it had issued subordinated convertible bonds to AFC of $100 million. The bonds have a coupon of 5.5 per cent per year and will be converted to equity in the event of an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Aker Energy, at an agreed discount to an IPO offering price of 1.85 per cent per year. The bonds have a maturity of five years, with an option to extend with another three years.

In a separate statement on Monday, July 15 AFC confirmed its support of Aker Energy and said the funds would be used by Aker Energy to finance the development of the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block (DWTCTP), a block offshore Ghana containing multiple oil fields.

The asset is owned by joint venture partners, including Aker Energy (50%), Lukoil (38%), Fueltrade (2%) and a 10% carry for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), wholly owned by the Government of Ghana. The Pecan field, which is the most appraised in the DWTCTP block and the field to be developed in the first phase, is an oil field estimated to contain reserves of about 334 million barrels of oil equivalent.

AFC explained that this investment was in line with its overall natural resources strategy, which entails building a portfolio of value added assets across the energy value chain.

This investment also marks the beginning of AFC and Aker’s relationship in the exploration and production sector across the African continent; AFC will offer support to Aker, open new opportunities, and mitigate potential geopolitical risks. On the other hand, AFC said that Aker was an ideal partner for AFC, as it seeks to broaden its partnerships with developers within the natural resources sector.

The Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points field is one of the Ghana’s principal hydrocarbon assets and is expected to contribute to Ghana’s near term target of an annual production volume of 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Aker Energy submitted an integrated plan of Development and Operations (PDO) to Ghanaian authorities for the Deepwater Tano / Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) block in late March 2019. The integrated PDO presents an overall plan for a phased development and production of the resources in the DWT/CTP contract area. The phased development plan will start with the development of the Pecan field as a firm phase one, being the largest of several discoveries in the area.

Upon PDO approval, the partners will initiate a process to make a final investment decision (FID). First oil from the Pecan field is estimated 35 months after the FID is made.

Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC, commented on the announcement: “This is an opportunity for AFC to invest alongside a technically and financially strong sponsor that requires project development expertise and public sector advice in Africa, both of which AFC is ideally placed to offer.”

Jan Arve Haugan, CEO of Aker Energy, added: “We value AFC’s vote of confidence by collaborating with Aker Energy and the commitment to further strengthening this partnership going forward. We believe AFC will be a valuable partner to help Aker Energy navigate the opportunities and challenges that lies ahead of us.”

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