10-03-00 Ghana has discovered an offshore oil field at its west coast in its decades exploration, which confirmed the oil potential in the oil thirsty western African country.
Dana Petroleum, a British company, and the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) announced that they have discovered offshore oil in the Western Tano Contract Area, about 32 km off the coast, with an output of 1,000 bpd.
John Craven, Exploration Manager of Dana, told in Accra that the oil well won't be operational until a comprehensive evaluation is done. The drilling of the well, christened WT-IX, began last December and reached a total measured depth of 10,414 feet (about 3470 meters) and subsequent testing proved that hydrocarbons were present.
Tom Cross, Dana's CEO, said the discovery confirms the belief that there is considerable potential in the Western Tano area. Dana holds 90 % ownership while GNPC has 10 % in oil well but can increase to 25 % after commercial development. Ghana is now spending about 30 % of its hard-earned hard currency to import oil every year, with Nigeria being its principal supplier.