Oil Exploration: Tullow fails to make it to the next round of competitive bidding

This means that the oil company was not part of the shortlisted companies whose bid qualified for the next process in the bidding rounds.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Ministry of Energy on Tuesday (July 2, 2019) announcing the successful bids received for two oil blocks on offer.

The Ministry of Energy has awarded First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited in partnership with Elandel Energy Ghana Limited block 3, while Eni Ghana Exploration and Production Limited in partnership with Vitol Upstream Tano Limited block 2 for exploration.

This decision was arrived at after evaluating the bids from Tullow Oil, ENI and E and P that were received on May 21, 2019.

The Ministry of Energy has invited the four companies that have been shortlisted for negotiation on the detailed terms of the Petroleum Agreement pursuant to provisions of the General Petroleum Regulations.

The government, through the Energy Ministry, earmarked six oil blocks for exploration and production.

Three of the blocks; 2, 3 and 4 were to go through a competitive bidding process while two blocks-5 and 6-were supposed to be for direct negotiations.

One of the blocks was however reserved for Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

The bid process, which was ushered in by President Nana Akufo-Addo on October 15, 2018, started 16 companies putting in 60 applications for the different oil blocks put up by the government.