…as Springfield bags US$750m facility from Afreximbank
Springfield Exploration and Production Limited (SEP), an independent African energy company, has signed a US$750million facility with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The ceremony took place at the just-ended Afreximbank 30th Annual General Meetings held in Accra.
This deal is expected to re-energise the industry from one that appears to have stagnated at best, or was in decline at worst, and nudge players to seek fresh investments in exploring more blocs and generating more revenues. Despite the global shifting of focus away from fossil fuels, a deal such as this also shows that the world’s appetite for oil and gas won’t be abating anytime soon.
It is also expected to spur local oil and gas firms into securing such external support to help in government’s agenda of making the Ghanaian economy a truly Ghanaian-owned economy.
George Owodo, Chief Finance Officer, signed for Springfield while Ms. Oluranti Doherty, Director, Export Development-Afreximbank signed on behalf of the bank.
The facility will positively impact development of the West Cape Three Points Block 2, particularly the unitised Afina-Sankofa field.
In October 2019, the Afina-1 well made two discoveries which included gas, critical and light oil at a water depth of 1,030 metres drilled to a total depth of 4,085 metres. This more than doubled Springfield’s proven oil reserves to 1.5 billion barrels, and added almost 1TCF of gas to the existing discoveries. The block’s current undiscovered potential is estimated at over 3 billion barrels of oil and gas in multiple leads and prospects within multiple proven reservoir units.
Commenting on the facility after the signing ceremony Kevin Okyere, Chief Executive Officer- Springfield said: “This is a great day for African companies in building an alliance with a great African financial institution like Afreximbank. This facility will enable us to add tremendous value to our oil block, and we are very excited about the opportunity.”
Springfield
Springfield Exploration and Production Limited was incorporated in March 2008 to pursue exploration and production opportunities in Ghana and the West African sub-region. The process of acquiring a block began in 2012, but this was finally awarded by the government of Ghana in March 2016. The Company is currently the Operator and Majority Interest Holder of West Cape Three Points Block 2, with the Ghana National Petroleum Company and its exploration company EXPLORCO holding the remaining interest.
Afreximbank
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. Afreximbank deploys innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of Africa’s trade structure; accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, and thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa.
