The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and its subsidiary, GNPC Explorco, have rejected allegations suggesting they provided outdated or misleading data for the valuation of Springfield Exploration and Production Limited’s interest in the West Cape Three Points Block 2.
In a statement issued on Monday, November 24, the two entities responded to reports circulating after the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition’s recent press release on the matter. The allegations relate to claims that GNPC and Explorco supplied consultants, Sewell, with secondary data from a 2020 report instead of more recent appraisal data from 2024.
GNPC and Explorco said the claims were false, stating that the Sewell report itself indicates that all data used were supplied solely by Springfield.
According to the corporations, Springfield did not inform them of its intention to procure the valuation report or of the data it submitted for that purpose.
“GNPC and Explorco executives were not in control of the data to be made available or the data Springfield provided for the valuation. It was Springfield’s sole decision to supply the 2020 GNPC report. It is evident from the disclaimer that neither GNPC nor Explorco was responsible for
providing the 2020 data,” the statement said.
Responding to further claims that Ghana previously lost an arbitration case due to reliance on similar 2020 data, GNPC said Springfield alone made the decision to provide that dataset.
They stressed that neither GNPC nor Explorco had control over the data selection process for the valuation.
The statement also addressed a disclaimer in the Sewell report noting the absence of raw geoscience data and its reliance on GNPC’s 2020 estimates. GNPC and Explorco reiterated that they were not responsible for what Springfield chose to submit and therefore could not have supplied or withheld the 2024 primary data.
The corporations further dismissed suggestions of an attempt to inflate the asset’s value or to justify a payout exceeding US$700 million, describing the allegation as unfounded. GNPC stated that it has not valued Springfield’s asset at US$700 million nor advised the government to act on such a figure.
“GNPC, as part of its commercial mandate, continues to evaluate assets based on various scenarios and assumptions, including price, costs and volumes,” the statement noted, adding that such internal assessments do not constitute a determination of an asset’s final value.
The government is currently engaging a technical entity and a transaction adviser to conduct an independent, up-to-date technical and commercial valuation of the asset and related interests.
GNPC assured the public that government decisions on the matter have been transparent and taken in the best interest of Ghanaians.
Click to read the statement by GNPC
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