Aker and Hess have not being operating illegally - ACEP

African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has refuted claims by think tank IMANI Africa that Aker Energy Ghana Limited and Hess are operating illegally.

At a press conference on Thursday, IMANI said its checks had revealed that Aker Energy was exploring oil in wells not captured in the petroleum agreement with government, describing the move as illegal.

It, therefore, asked the government to review the contract to ensure that Ghana benefits stressing that the country risks a potential loss of $30 billion if the government failed to renegotiate the petroleum agreement.

But a statement from ACEP released and signed by Benjamin Boakye, Director of Operations and Resource Mobilization described IMANI’s claims as false.

It says: “On paper, those making the argument that the initial 7-year exploration period has expired are right. But ACEP can state authoritatively that Hess, and later Aker, have not been operating illegally for the past 6 years in the contract.

This also establishes the fact that Hess did not start enjoying extensions on the back of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) preliminary injunction on further drilling issued in 2015. If anyone deems the appraisal wells drilled to be illegal, then there is apparent lack of understanding of the agreement.”

Below is the full statement