Tullow Oil has hailed the judgment of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
ITLOS on Saturday, September 23, 2017 ruled that Ghana has never violated the rights of Cote d’Ivoire by drilling oil around the maritime area shared by both countries.
The court also ruled Saturday that “Ghana did not violate the provisional measures prescribed by the Special Chamber in its Order of 25 April 2015.”
The judgment read by Judge Boualem Bouguetaia, President of the Special Chamber also said “there is no tacit agreement between the Parties to delimit their territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf both within and beyond 200 nm, and rejects Ghana’s claim that Côte d’Ivoire is estopped from objecting to the “customary equidistance boundary”.
In a press statement moments after the judgment, Tullow said it will work with the “Government of Ghana to put in place the necessary permits to allow the restart of development drilling in the TEN fields. Tullow expects to resume drilling around the end of the year which will allow production from the TEN fields to start to increase towards the FPSO design capacity of 80,000 bopd.
Below is Tullow’s full statement:
ITLOS decision
23 September 2017 – Tullow Oil plc (Tullow) notes that the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg today made its decision with regard to the maritime boundary dispute between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The new maritime boundary as determined by the tribunal does not affect the TEN fields as per the map at http://www.tullowoil.com/media/press-releases/itlos-ruling.
Tullow will now work with the Government of Ghana to put in place the necessary permits to allow the restart of development drilling in the TEN fields. Tullow expects to resume drilling around the end of the year which will allow production from the TEN fields to start to increase towards the FPSO design capacity of 80,000 bopd.
Paul McDade, CEO, commented today: “Tullow looks forward to continuing to work constructively with the Governments of both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire following the conclusion of this process. While the TEN fields have performed well during the period of the drilling moratorium, we can now restart work on the additional drilling planned as part of the TEN fields’ plan of development and take the fields towards their full potential.”
The ruling
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
