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REGIONAL REPORT West Africa “The exploration and production operator will obviously ment for oil mining license holders in Ghana to have the ca- prefer a deal that provides more share of the ? eld revenue, and pacity to develop the blocks they hold,” Adeosun said, adding governments need to balance their desire to get more share that market analysts have observed hydrocarbon production of the revenue from leases, concessions, production sharing more than doubled in Ghana between 2016 and 2018 since agreement, with the likelihood of discouraging new production the passage of the bill.

starts,” McCaul said. “Another major constraint that is speci? c to Nigeria is pipe-

According to Adeosun, government regulation remains line vandalism and sabotage in the Niger Delta region, where one of the major constraints to the growth of oil and gas in most of the country’s oil and gas is produced,” he added.

West Africa. “For example, in Nigeria, the Petroleum Indus- Despite some West Africa oil and gas producers predicting try Bill (PIB) has been held up from being passed for over a increased offshore investment driven by recovering global oil decade,” he observed. prices, Adeosun sees little impact of this surging oil prices

He said, “The passage of various elements of the bill is ex- on planned but yet to be developed deep- and ultra-deepwater pected to provide an improved regulatory structure for oil and projects in the region.

gas activities, leading to increased FIDs being taken in the “Recovering prices are unlikely to have a major impact on country, due to improved investor con? dence.” deep offshore projects in the short term as these projects are

But not all West African oil and gas markets are in limbo very highly capital intensive,” he said.

on regulatory framework matters if the progress in Ghana is “Short term price gains will provide an initial validation for anything to go by. projects that have already been committed to, but not neces-

Ghana, which passed its Petroleum Production and Explo- sarily for pending projects,” Adeosun added.

ration Bill in 2016, is already considering the bill for review, In the medium to long term, however, a continued rise in according to Adeosun. the price of oil is likely to incentivize exploration companies “An example of a difference in regulation is the require- to sign off on a higher number of FIDs.

May/June 2019 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 15