Amid the revelation of the government’s plan to take over Springfield’s oil block at West Cape Three Points, the Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Benjamin Boakye, has launched a strong challenge to any payment attempt by the state.
The energy policy analyst says that Ghana must not pay a pesewa for the asset. According to him, the block already belongs to the state because Springfield failed to meet its contractual obligations, and failed assets are not for sale.
Ben Boakye maintains that the issue is a simple matter of enforcing the rules, not negotiating payouts.
The Block Is Already Ghana’s
The executive director of ACEP argues that oil blocks remain the property of the Republic of Ghana.
He explains that private operators only manage them on Ghana’s behalf and take on the financial risk. If they succeed, they share in the reward. If they fail, the state takes back what already belongs to it, at no cost.
Springfield, he says, has not met the required development timelines. That alone is enough to trigger a handback of the block.
“From every objective assessment, acquisition of Springfield’s assets is a bad move. Here’s why: 1. The oil block belongs to the state. Contractors are supposed to take the risk and share benefits only when they succeed. 2. When contractors fail, the state’s duty is to reclaim its asset, not underwrite the losses of private companies,” Ben Boakye maintained.
Government Must Not Pay for a Failed Asset
What worries Ben Boakye most is the indication that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and its subsidiary Explorco are holding “constructive discussions” with Springfield on a possible takeover.
He says this should not include any form of payment. He argues that the state should not underwrite the losses of a private company, especially one that failed to deliver.
Doing so, he warns, would set a dangerous precedent: companies could fail, stagnate for years, and still expect compensation.
“The claim that GNPC and Explorco are engaging Springfield in ‘constructive discussions’ on a possible takeover is even more troubling,” he noted.
Concerns Over Credibility and Valuations
Ben Boakye also raises serious concerns about how the block was previously valued. Earlier this year, he says, Springfield and Explorco officials attempted to place the value of the asset between $433 million and $1.1 billion, figures he describes as deeply inflated.
Although a credible consultant was hired to do the valuation, Boakye claims the data submitted was flawed, designed to influence the outcome. “Garbage in, garbage out,” he says, insisting that such valuations cannot form the basis for any state payment.
He adds that the Petroleum Commission has already dismissed Springfield’s appraisal claims, making it even clearer that the asset has no proven commercial value that justifies a payout.
Technical Officials Must Not Be Allowed to Hide
The ACEP boss further says public criticism often falls only on politicians, but in this case, key technical officials within GNPC and Explorco must also be held accountable.
According to him, some of them provide advice that aligns more with private interests than national ones and end up enabling questionable decisions.
He stresses that Ghana’s problem is not the number of oil blocks it holds, but the lack of enforcement. Many blocks, he notes, have been sitting idle for over a decade.
Instead of buying back non-performing assets, Boakye urges the government to simply enforce the contracts that, if a company fails to meet its obligations, the block automatically reverts to the state, immediately and for free.
For Ben Boakye, the country is too poor to spend scarce public funds on what he describes as “trumped-up ventures.” He insists that at a time of hardship, Ghana must prioritize value for money and avoid paying for assets that already belong to the nation.
