Ghana has taken legal action under a United Nation convention to resolve a maritime border dispute with Ivory Coast over water close to oil fields licensed by British firm Tullow Oil.

Ghanaian Attorney General, Marrieta Brew Appiah-Oppong, said oil companies could continue to operate during the arbitration process, which could take up to three years.

Ghana filed the suit under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea after 10 bilateral meetings failed to resolve the issue, she said. The two countries have never officially agreed on the boundary and their maps of territorial waters overlap.

A resolution is crucial for oil and gas exploration and it could end any uncertainty for Tullow, which first discovered the Tweneboa, Enyenra, and Ntomme cluster development in 2009 in Ghana’s Deepwater Tano licence close to the disputed area.

“I don’t think we will lose. We are extremely confident about this case,” Appiah-Oppong told a news conference in the Ghanaian capital, according to Reuters.

Oil is a major source of revenue in Ghana, a politically stable country with a fast-growing economy that also yields gold and cocoa. Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer of cocoa, is also growing strongly after years of political turmoil.

Earlier, Ghanaian Minister of Communications Edward Omane Boamah told Reuters the goal of the talks was a peaceful settlement and the government wanted to retain good relations with its western neighbour.

Tullow is the largest stakeholder in the TEN project and its partners are Anadarko, Kosmos Energy, Sabre Oil & Gas Holdings Limited as well as the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

Oil exploration in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea has accelerated since Ghana discovered the giant Jubilee offshore oil and gas field in 2007 and Tullow brought it online in record time in late 2010.

Ivory Coast, which drilled only a handful of exploration wells during a decade-long political crisis that ended in 2011, is now seeking to develop its potentially lucrative offshore oil and gas sector.

Ivory Coast accused Ghana in April 2013 of encroaching on a part of its maritime territory rich in hydrocarbons

Wale112:
Ghana has taken legal action under a United Nation convention to resolve a maritime border dispute with Ivory Coast over water close to oil fields licensed by British firm Tullow Oil.

Ghanaian Attorney General, Marrieta Brew Appiah-Oppong, said oil companies could continue to operate during the arbitration process, which could take up to three years.

Ghana filed the suit under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea after 10 bilateral meetings failed to resolve the issue, she said. The two countries have never officially agreed on the boundary and their maps of territorial waters overlap.

A resolution is crucial for oil and gas exploration and it could end any uncertainty for Tullow, which first discovered the Tweneboa, Enyenra, and Ntomme cluster development in 2009 in Ghana’s Deepwater Tano licence close to the disputed area.

“I don’t think we will lose. We are extremely confident about this case,” Appiah-Oppong told a news conference in the Ghanaian capital, according to Reuters.

Oil is a major source of revenue in Ghana, a politically stable country with a fast-growing economy that also yields gold and cocoa. Ivory Coast, the world’s top producer of cocoa, is also growing strongly after years of political turmoil.

Earlier, Ghanaian Minister of Communications Edward Omane Boamah told Reuters the goal of the talks was a peaceful settlement and the government wanted to retain good relations with its western neighbour.

Tullow is the largest stakeholder in the TEN project and its partners are Anadarko, Kosmos Energy, Sabre Oil & Gas Holdings Limited as well as the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

Oil exploration in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea has accelerated since Ghana discovered the giant Jubilee offshore oil and gas field in 2007 and Tullow brought it online in record time in late 2010.

Ivory Coast, which drilled only a handful of exploration wells during a decade-long political crisis that ended in 2011, is now seeking to develop its potentially lucrative offshore oil and gas sector.

Ivory Coast accused Ghana in April 2013 of encroaching on a part of its maritime territory rich in hydrocarbons

Oil is Africa's nemesis

ducii:


Oil is Africa's nemesis

Oil isn't Africa's nemesis - Africa's nemesis is the bastardization of her natural boundaries by the evil colonialists for selfish reasons.

who colonise these two country matter.

who colonise these two country matter..

Truckpusher:
Oil isn't Africa's nemesis - Africa's nemesis is the bastardization of her natural boundaries by the evil colonialists for selfish reasons.

^^^The colonialists were evil and greedy alright! But it's getting a bit old to lay all our problems as a race on their doorstep! They left more than 5 decades ago for crissakes!! You don't see the likes of Singapore still being held back by events in their life as a nation that happened more than half a century ago; after all there was a time we were at par with them.....if not better!

Africa's major problem is Africans themselves!

Truckpusher:
Oil isn't Africa's nemesis - Africa's nemesis is the bastardization of her natural boundaries by the evil colonialists for selfish reasons.

Africa's nemesis is the black peoples thinking

iamord:


Africa's nemesis is the black peoples thinking

The black people are still psychologically and mentally stronger if you go back to history lane taking into consideration what that old pale thing you serve and worship threw at him for centuries.


We are still here and we will rise again it's a matter of time.....go figure