Pay 30% oil revenue to court registrar…Judge orders ENI, Vitol

An Accra Commercial High Court has ordered the operator of Ghana’s Sankofa oil field, ENI Ghana Limited and its partner Vitol Upstream Ghana Limited, to immediately pay 30 per cent of revenue realized from the sale of crude oil from the field to the Registrar of the Court.

The payment, estimated at about US$40 million monthly, shall start from 25th June, 2021 (the date of the original ruling) and continue every month afterwards until the substantive matter is determined.

Upon receipt of the payment, the Registrar will then pay the same into an escrow account and furnish the Court and the parties with records of payment.

Justice Mariama Sammo issued the ruling on Monday, January 24th 2022, in Accra, following an application by Springfield Exploration and Production Limited, operators of the West Cape Three Points (WCTP) Block 2 for the court’s clear interpretation of its ruling.

Springfield’s application was precipitated by ENI and Vitol’s failure to comply with the court’s ruling of June 25, 2021.

On June 25, 2021 the Court ruled in favour of Springfield Exploration’s application to freeze revenues received by Eni and Vitol from the sale of crude oil from the Sankofa field pending determination of their substantive case filed in July 2020.

The companies have been in dispute since an April 2020 directive was issued by Ghana’s Ministry of Energy to unitize the Afina and Sankofa fields to ensure optimal recovery of the resources in the common reservoir in the interest of all the parties involved, including the State.