In May 2021, ExxonMobil announced to the Ghanaian government that it was exiting the country’s upstream petroleum sector where it has been conducting exploration after acquiring rights in 2018.
The company’s investment was the first after a landmark ruling from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in favour of Ghana, following the maritime border dispute with Ivory Coast a year earlier.
It held great prospects for the country which was looking to capitalise on ExxonMobil’s experience, to build the capacity of the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) within four years. The goal was to help GNPC eventually learn to operate fields independently.
ExxonMobil was allocated the Deepwater Cape Three Points block, 57 miles off Ghana’s coast where it held 80% interest and was expected to complete the full six-year exploration period. But its decision to
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