The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has rejected allegations of any procurement violations associated with the allocation of consultancy contracts for the Saltpond decommissioning project.In response to the allegations, GNPC released a 10-point statement on Friday, clarifying the procurement process for the project.

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The Corporation emphasised that a news report by one Thibault Lanchon of the Africa Intelligence media entity, an affiliate of Indigo Publications run by Phillipe Vasset, had misrepresented the facts surrounding the contract awards.

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It stated that the Saltpond Field, discovered in 1970 and put into production in October 1978, faced multiple shutdowns due to declining production, eventually leading to a complete shutdown in 2015.ResponseFurthermore, it explained that in response to the decision to decommission the Saltpond Field, the Ghanaian government appointed GNPC to manage the project.

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On January 12, 2022, GNPC signed the Saltpond Field Decommissioning Contract with Hans & Co. Oil and Gas Limited, the chosen decommissioning contractor.GNPC mentioned that, given its limited experience in decommissioning, it sought a project management consultant to ensure quality control and assurance throughout the Saltpond Field Decommissioning Project (SFDP).

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According to the statement, GNPC applied for single-source procurement on October 19, 2021, but later canceled the tender based on legal grounds after an internal review.GNPC said that following a comprehensive review in July 2022, it reapplied to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) for a project management consultant, this time opting for an open competitive tender method based on PPA's recommendation.

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InterestIt said out of three firms that expressed interest, only two partnerships, Ensol Energy Ghana Limited (Ensol) and TSB Offshore Inc. (TSB) and PAP Energy Limited and Luy Resources, submitted proposals at the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage.The statement mentioned that after a thorough evaluation of the proposals, GNPC awarded the contract to the Ensol-TSB partnership based on the merit of their tender.

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"On March 7, 2023, Ensol notified GNPC of the withdrawal of its partner, TSB, from the project management consultancy contract and proposed a replacement," the statement said."According to Ensol, TSB decided to prioritise other contracts it had over the project management consultancy contract due to the prolonged procurement process from tender submission in October 2022 until contract execution at the end of January 2023.

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Nowhere in the communication between GNPC and Ensol is there a suggestion that TSB’s withdrawal was a result of any malpractice by anybody related to GNPC, and as such, anybody suggesting that must provide evidence.Ensol’s request to replace TSB with another firm is currently going through GNPC’s internal due diligence process.It is, therefore, false that the PPA objected to Ensol’s proposed new partner".

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GNPCAddressing another allegation, GNPC said almost 70 per cent of the consultancy work was not completed by GNPC's technical teams before the project management consultancy contract was awarded."It should be noted that the scope of the project management consultancy is in three phases: pre-decommissioning, decommissioning and post-decommissioning.The critical phase covers decommissioning, which is ongoing, and post-decommissioning.

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In recognition of the fact that part of the pre-decommissioning had been done at the time of execution of the project management consultancy contract, the final contract price of under three million US dollars (USD 3,000,000.00) was consistent with the change in scope".

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GNPC also reassured the public of its commitment to ensuring the successful execution of the Saltpond Field Decommissioning Project, considering the significant environmental health and safety implications involved.

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