Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Ghana State Oil Company Cuts Borrowing Plan in Half on Oil Price
by Ekow Dontoh
6:14 PM EDT
April 7, 2015

Ghana National Petroleum Corp. will borrow less than half of what it had planned this year because of the drop in oil prices.

The state company is seeking $350 million to $400 million from banks at an interest rate of about 3.9 percent, Chief Executive Officer Alex Mould told reporters in the capital, Accra. The Tema, Ghana-based company may have to seek a longer maturity than expected because of low crude prices, he said. A decision will be made in approximately three weeks, he said.

GNPC delayed raising as much as $1 billion last year after oil fell about 50 percent. The company wants to operate and own larger shares of projects that will boost government revenue as Ghana seeks to increase crude output five-fold by 2024.

“We have credible projects that the markets look favorably on,” Mould said on Tuesday. “Prices have fallen so we have to redo the debt size.”

GNPC manages the government’s minority stake in Jubilee, its largest field, and the offshore deposits TEN and Sankofa. Tullow Oil Plc is the operator and majority owner of the Jubilee field, which is producing about 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

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