DELVE INTO AFRICAN WEALTH
DON'T MISS A BEAT
Subscribe now
Skip to content

Ghanaian billionaire Kevin Okyere secures $750-million loan to pump oil

Okyere is the founder of Springfield Group, one of Ghana’s few locally-owned oil exploration companies.

Kevin Okyere

Table of Contents

Springfield Exploration and Production Limited (SEP), an independent African oil exploration company founded by Ghanaian tycoon Kevin Okyere, has secured a $750-million facility from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to fund the necessary capital expenditure in the development of the West Cape Three Points Block 2. The agreement was signed on Wednesday during Afreximbank 30th Annual General Meetings held in Accra.

The signing ceremony saw George Owodo, chief finance officer of Springfield, representing the company, while Oluranti Doherty, director of export development at Afreximbank, signed on behalf of the financial institution. This collaboration between SEP and Afreximbank is expected give a shot in the arm to the development of the West Cape Three Points Block 2, specifically focusing on the unitized Afina-Sankofa field.

In a remarkable feat, the Afina-1 well, drilled to a depth of 4085 meters and situated at a water depth of 1030 meters, led to two significant discoveries in October 2019.

These discoveries included gas, critical oil, and light oil. The result was an impressive increase in Springfield’s proven oil reserves, which now stand at 1.5 billion barrels.

Additionally, nearly 1 trillion cubic feet (1TCF) of gas was added to the company’s existing discoveries. With multiple leads and prospects within various proven reservoir units, the block’s undiscovered potential is estimated to exceed 3 billion barrels of oil and gas.

Following the signing ceremony, Okyere, the CEO of Springfield, expressed his enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating: “This is a great day for African companies in building an alliance with a great African financial institution like Afreximbank.”

Springfield Exploration and Production Limited, which Okyere founded in 2008, has been pursuing exploration and production opportunities in Ghana and the wider West African sub-region.

Although Springfield began the process of acquiring the West Cape Three Points Block 2 in 2012, the block was finally awarded to Springfield by the Government of Ghana in March 2016.

Presently, the company serves as the operator and majority interest holder of the block, with the Ghana National Petroleum Company and its exploration company, EXPLORCO, holding the remaining interest.

Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution entrusted with financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade.

Latest