Eni’s request to stop Sankofa revenues freeze denied amid ongoing unitisation dispute with Springfield

An attempt made by Italy’s Eni to suspend the execution of a ruling made by a court in Ghana in late June has been dismissed in a case brought on by domestic explorer Springfield E&P related to the freezing of part of Sankofa revenues while the unitisation talks between the two companies continue.

Eni and Springfield have been trying to hammer out a unitisation agreement for their fields off Ghana, Eni’s Sankofa and Springfield’s Afina, since last year when it was discovered that the two fields share the same reservoir. Eni’s partner in the field is Vitol.

However, as the two companies had failed to reach an agreement, the government of Ghana in October 2020 imposed its own terms and conditions for Eni and Springfield E&P to ensure optimum exploitation of the two fields.

Following Springfield’s application, a Commercial High Court sitting in Accra on 25 June 2021 ruled in the company’s favour, deciding to freeze 30 per cent of revenues received by Eni and its partner Vitol from the sale of crude oil from the Sankofa field and place them into an escrow account.

Namely, Springfield had asked the court to preserve Sankofa revenues until the unitisation agreement was reached with Eni and each company gets its share. The payment amounts to approximately $40 million a month, which will be directed to an account agreed by both parties. The decision was in effect following the ruling.

While Springfield CEO and founder, Kevin Okyere, described the June ruling as a “welcome vindication of Springfield’s position on the issue of unitisation and a positive result”, Eni said at the time that it would take the appropriate steps, including appealing against this ruling.

Following the events in June, it has now been understood that a hearing was held last week whereby Eni made an application for a stay of execution of the court order made on 25 June 2021 and the application was denied.

Offshore Energy has reached out to Eni as well as Springfield, seeking comment and further details. A spokesperson for Eni said in a brief statement: “We are taking all the appropriate necessary steps in order to protect our operations in the country”.

Springfield has not responded to our request for comment.

The substantive case related to the unitisation has not yet been determined.