The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Springfield Energy, Kevin Okyere, has emerged as the trusted front man of the Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh alias “NAPO” who came close to being fired by President Akufo-Addo, for showing him utmost disrespect by refusing to carry out a stern instruction over an important transaction priced at US$550 million. In a recently concluded transaction between Occidental (Oxy) and Kosmos Energy for the takeover of the former’s stake in the Jubilee and TEN fields, “NAPO” sought to rely on Kevin to throw a wrench into the transaction that has taken months to negotiate. NAPO, Kelvin, Gabby and KK Sarpong, had wanted to scuttle the Occidental (Oxy) and Kosmos Energy US$550 million deal by forcing in Kevin’s Springfield and International Petroleum Corporation (IPC) quoting US$750 million as their bid price. According to our trusted sources, International Petroleum Corporation (IPC) approached the Energy Minister with a proposal to buy the stake of Oxy in Ghana. Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, rather referred the proposal to his front man to partner IPC with his company (Springfield) to put up a counter bid. In the haste to make a deal out of the situation, IPC, Dr. Opoku-Prempeh and Kevin, assumed some authority they do not have; they made an offer to Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) rather than the company (Oxy) that was selling the assets. With full knowledge of what he was scheming, Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, began to frustrate the transaction between Oxy and Kosmos by delaying his approval. This had to take the intervention of the President after he went to Texas to meet Kosmos and Occidental in September. After meeting the companies, the president gave specific instructions for the deal to be approved by the Energy Minister. However, at his usual best, Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, ignored the President and kept it at the ministry of energy to frustrate the transaction. This Compelled Oxy to write a letter to Dr. Opoku-Prempeh to strongly indicate that if he (Energy Minister) failed to approve the transaction by October 13, 2021, they would not proceed with the sale of the asset to anybody else. That could only incite the flamboyant anger of the “prince” of Ghana’s Energy sector to entrench his position to frustrate the transaction. It appears Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, was not alone, but had the support of the GNPC boss KK Sarpong and Gabby AsareOtchere-Darko, the President’s trusted cousin with Nana Bediatuo Asante, also in another corner pursuing his own agenda and financial interest. Two clear weeks after President Akufo-Addo had instructed the approval of the Oxy-Kosmos transaction, his cousin; Gabby was using his media house Asaase Radio to tout the benefits of GNPC opting for the Springfield-IPC proposal. KK Sarpong, the expert “Over-valuer”, had also begun engaging Kevin’s Springfield and IPC to put US$750 million bid, as though they were the owners of the asset, having been consumed by the mistaken belief that they could front for Springfield and IPC. While, Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, Kevin and KK Sarpong kept to their corner, another member of the Akufo-Addo family, the Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, emerged to do more damage to Oxy and Kosmos. He is also believed to have come up with another company, Protronor, at the last hour, despite being privy to the directive of the President for the Minister of Energy to approve the transaction between Oxy and Kosmos. It came to the attention of the President that NAPO and his cousins, have disrespected his orders and kept at a tussle for the assets. On Tuesday October 12, 2021, it came to the attention of President Akufo-Addo that Oxy, had written to Dr. Opoku-Prempeh with Wednesday October13, 2021 deadline. President Akufo-Addo, called for an emergency meeting at the seat of government; Jubilee House to find a solution to the problem. The Herald’s sources indicate that Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, refused to pick the call of the president and hence did not participate in the meeting. However, the presence of Gabby, Egbert Faibille, the CEO of the Petroleum Commission and KK Sarpong was enough for the crunch meeting to agree that Dr. Opoku-Prempeh approves the transaction before the close of day October 13. This left the Energy Minister with no option than to approve the transaction to save his job, after causing the old man to stay up to 12 midnight to find a solution to his mess driven by greed and selfishness. Interestingly yesterday, the Energy Minister, pretended everything was fine betweenhim and the outgoing company he had tried to outsmart when news from his ministry said “Hon. Dr. Matthew OpokuPrempeh, has applauded the move by Anadarko Petroleum Ghana to transfer new shares to Kosmos Energy Ghana”. “At a meeting at the Ministry of Energy in the presence of officials of the National Oil Company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the Energy Minister described Anadarko’s decision to transfer their existing shares in the West Cape Three Points (WCTP) to Kosmos Energy as a step in the direction. He said selecting Kosmos as their preferred buyer is also very much in order as they exit the petroleum agreement between the company and Ghana”. It went on to say that “Dr. Prempeh underscored the essence of due diligence in the transfer process , as he on the back of the available information and briefing expressed consent to the sale and transfer of shares”. “The Minister indicated Ghana’s commitment to sound Investor Relations. This cordiality in his view would ensure that Ghana judiciously exploits its petroleum resources for the benefit of its people”. But interestingly, the sale of Oxy assets of two producing fields (24% on Jubilee and 17% on TEN) at US$550 million raises fundamental questions about the recent Aker Energy’s asking price for its Pecan and AGM fields. Jubilee and TEN are producing fields that generate revenue from day one of purchase. Yet GNPC did not pay attention from the beginning when Oxy wanted to sell, only to appear last hour as a front for other companies. But rather
Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, Kevin-Okyere, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and Dr. KK Sarpong
