(For other news from the Reuters Africa Summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Africa14)
By Kwasi Kpodo
ACCRA, April 9 (Reuters) - Ghana National PetroleumCorporation (GNPC) is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell over an exploration and production deal in the offshoreEast Keta basin, GNPC's chief executive said at the ReutersAfrica summit.
Alex Mould gave no details of the deal's scope in the basin,which lies in the Gulf of Guinea between the port city of Temaand the Togolese border to the east.
But he said a Shell deal could open the door to other majorproducers.
"We are in discussions right now with Shell in the East Ketabasin. We are also in discussions with Chevron. They arelooking at where they want to come in the data room and weshould hear from them in a couple of months," Mould toldReuters.
"We still have to make contacts with Exxon-Mobil andwe believe that with the advent of Shell, who are in discussionswith us right now for a petroleum agreement, will encourage therest of them to come in," he said.
Ghana began pumping oil in December 2010 at its offshoreJubilee field to the west, where Tullow Oil has thelargest stake and production is expected to hit 110,000 barrelsper day in 2014.
Jubilee, the only oil field in Ghana currently producing,lies southwest of the port city of Takoradi and close to theborder with Ivory Coast.
GNPC is also in talks with UB Petroleum, A-Z Petroleum andHeritage Oil over the award of licences on new oilblocks, Mould said, though he declined to give details of theblock locations or the value of any deals.
"There is absolutely a huge demand in the Ghanaian upstreamsector. The last four blocks we gave we had over 25 applicationsand on the average we have about six applications for everyblock," Mould said.
SLIM HOLES
GNPC is spending about $20 million to drill six narrow holesto determine a hydrocarbon presence in the onshore Voltaianbasin, which would bring years of work to fruition. The nextstep would be a full-scale seismic survey before the blocks canbe divided up.
"We are in the approval stage of the public procurementprocess which is very elaborate in Ghana and it's taken uscurrently four months. We believe the project will cost us about$20 million," Mould said.
When Ghana struck oil in 2007 it generated a burst ofoptimism for the economy and the year after production began GDPgrowth spiked to 11.8 percent.
Of late, however, a delay in constructing a pipeline to bring gas onshore from the Jubilee field has held productionback.
Mould said GNPC had plans to increase its stake in theTweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) fields, which lie about 20 km (12miles) west of the Jubilee field following a decision by TullowOil to sell part of its almost 50 percent stake.
"GNPC had already informed Tullow that they were interestedin the farm-down, so if Tullow gets a partner GNPC will like tobe within that group of the farm-down," he said. The corporationcurrently holds a stake of around 15 percent, officials said.
He added that Tullow had put on hold for several monthsplans to find a partner.
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(For more summit stories, see ) (Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
