Togo and Ghana are at risk of engaging in a legal battle over oil exploration in a bloc between the two countries, according to a report by the Ghana Public Interest and Liability Committee (PIAC).
Indeed, the regulator says it has noted “the adverse claims of the Togolese authorities concerning its maritime border with Ghana, especially on the ultra-deep Keta East block,” before urging Accra “to take urgent measures to delimit the maritime border. And “resolve the dispute that is still at an early stage”.
Moreover, the exploratory companies committed by the Ghanaian government would be even often intimidated by the Togolese coastguard with each attempt to execute their specifications, according to the report quoted by Togo First which repeats the information.
“In fact, a few months ago, the Ghanaian government awarded a block of exploration in the region to a joint venture of Blue Star Exploration, Ghana’s state-owned oil company (GNPC), and Heritage E & P. An operation that the Togolese authorities dispute that the maritime boundary covering the oil concession granted is a Togolese territory “, explains the news site.
For now, no official reaction of the Togolese authorities is registered yet.
As a reminder, in September 2017, Ghana won a dispute with the Ivory Coast over maritime borders between the two countries. In its role as guarantor of the proper application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International Maritime Tribunal for the Law of the Sea concluded that the country had not violated the sovereignty of the Ivory Coast exploiting oil in the disputed zone.
