Shell and Chevron have struck a deal linked to petroleum exploration and production rights over the South Deepwater Tano Block offshore Ghana.
The arrangement could result in the two companies taking control of the exploration block.
Ghana National Petroleum Corporation said in a social media post that the government and state-owned oil companies signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday covering the acquisition of petroleum exploration and production rights over South Deepwater Tano.
The development comes as industry interest in Ghana is reviving under President John Mahama’s government, which is seeking to attract new upstream investors alongside established companies including Eni and Tullow Oil.
The move follows an agreement by Petrobras just weeks earlier to enter Ghana’s Keta basin.
South Deepwater Tano was previously operated by AGM Petroleum, a Gibraltar-registered company controlled by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke, the main shareholder of Aker ASA.
In 2019, AGM Petroleum drilled the Kyenkyen-1X and Nyankom-1X exploration wells in the block. At least one of the wells resulted in an oil discovery.
GNPC and GNPC Explorco are both state-owned companies and have some overlap in their operations.
