GHANA: PROSPECTIVITY AND HYDROCARBON PLAYS

By Michael Aryeetey, GNPC

INTRODUCTION

Ghana’s sedimentary basins are located both onshore and offshore.

The offshore basins lie between longitude 3° 15’ W and 1°12'E, and
covers about 50 000 km2 extending from the Cote d’Ivoire maritime
border in the west to the Togo maritime border in the east. Offshore
exploration is progressing both on the continental shelf and in ultra
deep waters. The offshore and coastal basins are divided into three (3)
on the basis of geological characteristics and play types: they are
Western (Tano-CTP), Central (Saltpond), and Eastern (Accra-Keta)
basins. Shallow water refers to water depth between 0-200m;
deepwater for water depths between 200-1500m; with water depths
greater than 1500m being referred to as ultra deep.
These basins share common structural and stratigraphic
characteristics, in that they are wrench-modified basins and contain
rocks ranging in age from Ordovician to Recent-Pliocene.
An inland basin called the Voltaian Basin covers about 40% of the
landmass of Ghana

The prospectivity of the transform margin which includes Ghana has

been established. There are well known oil and gas productions from
this margin. Examples are Espoir, Lion Panthere, Foxtrot and Baobab
Fields, all in Cote d’Ivoire. There are also well known discoveries that
are either being developed or waiting to be developed. Examples are
the North, South and West Tano Fields in Ghana, and the Ibex and
Kudu Fields in La Cote d’Ivoire

In Ghana, the existence of oil seepages onshore and oil slicks offshore
which have been found to be associated with subsea seepages are all
indications of at least a working mature source. Numerous studies
commissioned and non-commissioned have proved beyond doubt that
there is a very good oil and gas potential in Ghana.
The obvious question therefore, is why are we not realizing this
potential?

I will therefore in this presentation attempt to look at this various play

types, the extent of their exploration and their potential for putting
Ghana on the map of oil producing countries in the world.

By Michael Aryeetey 1
GEOLOGICAL SETTING

The development of these basins is intimately related to the opening

and spreading of the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean and divergence of the
West African and South American plates.

They are aligned generally east-west, with boundaries delimited by an

east-west transform fault system and north-south structural arches.

PREVIOUS EXPLORATION EFFORTS

For obvious reasons previous exploration efforts have been

concentrated on the shallow water areas of Ghana. Out of the seventy
seven (77) wells drilled, fifty-one (51) of them were drilled in the
shallow water and targeted at the Lower Cretaceous rift section.
Clearly seismic acquisition has also been concentrated on the shallow
water rift section. This, as indicated earlier, has been successful by all
standards where the success ratio over the whole transform margin
has been 36% for this play type.

CHARACTERISTICS AND POTENTIAL

The discoveries tend to be, in most cases marginal, for example North
Tano, South Tano and Saltpond in Ghana, Lion and Panthere in Cote
d’Ivoire. The reserve size to a large extent is determined by the size of
the fault blocks because they are rift related, and the trapping
mechanism tends to be fault dominated.

The estimated reserves for these fields are Espoir (130 MMBO),
Foxtrot (1.0 TCFG), Baobab (), Seme/Aje (1.0 TCFG), Alba (1.3
TCFG/70 MMBO), La Ceiba (300 MMBO), The North Tano (54
MMBO/102 BSCFG), South Tano (71 MMBO/182 BSCFG) and Saltpond
Field (4.9 MMSTBO/34.14 BSCFG).

The reservoirs are marginal marine sands whose properties tend to

deteriorate with depth below 9,000 feet of overburden.

Despite the very good success ratio of this play type, exploration pace
of this play type slowed down considerably since the mid-nineties. The
drilling density in the shallow water is about one well to about 450
square kilometers. Over fifty-five of such prospects have been

By Michael Aryeetey 2
identified in the shallow water which has not been drilled. The
discovered ones have also mostly not been developed.
A combination of two factors could be responsible for this state of
affairs.
The first factor could be the perceived uncompetitive fiscal and
regulatory system that existed from the mid-eighties till the beginning
of this century. GNPC and Government approach has been to design a
very competitive fiscal system that protect and give incentives to the
contractor for the development of marginal fields. Highlights of these
incentives have already been announced at various international fora.
The second factor in my opinion is the absence of a framework, the
monetization of the gas or market for the gas that is often associated
with the marginal reserves of oil in these fields.

It is hoped that the developments of thermal plants along the coast of

Ghana and the competitive fiscal terms for gas will allow gas
development and gas production to be very attractive to potential
investors. The thermal plants are Effasu (126 MW), Takoradi (300 MW
plus planned expansion of additional 250 MW single cycle plant), Tema
(380 MW installed, 1970 MW planned by 2010). This incentives and
flexible terms provided for the production of indigenous gas will make
it very competitive than the gas from the West African Pipeline.

The development of the indigenous gas will provide fuel security for all
theses thermal plants.
It is our hope that the competitive fiscal terms and the value addition
of the gas will give impetus to more exploration of this play type in the
shallow water and also the development of the various marginal fields
already discovered.

It is well noting that since the announcement of this new fiscal policy,
we have seen positive response from investors.

We have signed an agreement with Tullow Oil Plc for the development
of the North, South and West Tano Fields. Tullow are currently
appraising the North Tano Field. Kosmos Energy, Heliconia Energy and
GASOP Oil are all companies that have signed a Petroleum Agreement
with us to test these prospects. We have also reviewed numerous
applications and enquiries for the remaining open blocks to test this
play type.

By Michael Aryeetey 3
DEEPWATER

Ghana’s deepwater offshore basin did not receive this much attention
as the shallow area until the wave of deepwater discoveries in other
West African countries, notably Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and
Mauritania. Until 1997, the only deepwater well was drilled by Phillips
in 1978. It targeted the Lower Cretaceous rift structure in deepwater
Dixcove areas. Even now it remains the least explored offshore areas
of Ghana.
In Ghana, there are two areas of well developed deepwater potential.
These are the offshore deepwater of Tano Cape Three Points basin in
the west, and the offshore deepwater Accra-Keta basin in the east.
The central portion is dominated by the Romanche Fracture Zone
which restricted the development of the deepwater Upper Cretaceous
and Tertiary basins, as was done in the Tano Cape Three Points and
the Accra-Keta basins.

The deepwater in both basins is dominated by basin floor fans and

other stratigraphic traps in the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary
sections. The reservoirs are made up of Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary
sandstones of excellent characteristics. The Hunt’s WCTP-2X well
drilled in water depth of 2934 meters encountered sands of porosity
greater than 18% and permeabilities exceeding 500 mD, which are
considered excellent by deepwater standards.

EXPLORATION EFFORTS

As stated earlier the deepwater exploration began in the mid-nineties.

It however was not intensive because of the fiscal system in place at
that time. The system did not recognize the high risk and cost
associated with the deepwater and therefore did not reward these
elements in the fiscal arrangements.

Lack of good data at the time was also a limiting factor for the
participation of companies in the exploration efforts of the deepwater.

The reprocessing of the Phillips 1997 data and acquisition of new data
in 1997 and 2000 by Hunt Oil and Dana respectively clearly revealed
the deepwater play types of the Tano-Cape Three Points basin.

Hunt Oil drilled WCTP-2X in 1999 in the Tano-CTP basin targeting one
of the numerous basin floor fans. This well encountered 14 feet of net
pay in sands of excellent reservoir characteristics. The well though was

By Michael Aryeetey 4
not deemed commercially successful, proved the existence of a
working petroleum system in the deepwater Tano CTP basin.

In the Accra-Keta basin, similar exploration efforts by Nuevo Energy

and Devon Energy also proved the potential/prospectivity of the basin.

Beyond these pioneering exploration efforts by Hunt, Dana, Nuevo and

Devon, what actually gave the momentum for deepwater exploration
of this play type is the signal sent out to the industry about the new
fiscal terms for deepwater which contain very good incentives.

As can be seen from the activity map, the whole of the Tano CTP has
been licensed out to Vanco Energy, Hess Corporation, Heliconia
Energy, Tullow Oil Plc and Kosmos Energy, all having aggressive work
programs, including drilling of wells. It is hoped that with the activities
of these companies, the potential of this deepwater play type will be
realized and put Ghana on the map of oil producing countries.

In the Accra-Keta Basin in the eastern side of the country, the sole
operator Devon Energy has announced that it is pulling out of Africa
and has therefore put its assets in Africa including this block on sale.
Devon has reprocessed 1500 square kilometers of 3D seismic data
over the block which has de-risked the stratigraphic components of
several of the prospects. The adjacent blocks are also available. As
discussed earlier the prospectivity of the play types is proven.
However, only one deepwater well has been drilled to the base of
Tertiary. The Upper Cretaceous plays remain untested.

We invite you to consider any form of entry into this area either
through the purchase of Devon’s block or by application for the
unlicensed blocks.

The exploration and production fiscal and regulatory terms are

competitive for both shallow water and deepwater.

By Michael Aryeetey 5
CONCLUSION

The West Africa Oil & Gas Province is estimated to have mean
undiscovered resources of 1,004 MMBO and 10,071 BCFG in
undiscovered fields (USGS 2006). Compared to other provinces in
Sub-Saharan Africa, the province has a huge potential for
undiscovered resources. All of the undiscovered resources are offshore
and mostly in deep water.

It is our hope that the drilling density offshore (one well to 450 sq km)
will improve as we work together to increase seismic coverage. The
fact that even with this low well density, about 70% of the wells
encountered some amount of hydrocarbon show the extent of the
working petroleum system.

Government and GNPC has thus provided incentives for potential

investors and industry players to come to Ghana and invest and take
up acreages/blocks and enjoy generous oil and gas fiscal terms, and
drill our numerous untested prospects. This will unearth the potential.

A previous fiscal regime that puts royalty to between 10 and 12% has
been reviewed downward to 3% for deepwater, 4% for inland Voltaian
basin and to 5% for the shelf/coastal exploration. Income tax is 35%,
in addition to other attractive packages.

The Ghana Government and GNPC will continue to provide enabling

environment for prospective investors.

Ladies and gentlemen, you are most welcome to explore for oil and
gas in Ghana.

By Michael Aryeetey 6