General News of Tuesday, 3 March 2015
Source: citifmonline.com
Minority Spokesperson on Energy, K.T Hammond is confident that the Ivory Coast government’s latest lawsuit seeking to stop Tullow Oil and its partners from exploring oil over the disputed area between Ghana and that country will prove fruitless.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, K.T Hammond said: “I am confident …that ultimately the Ivorian case will be fruitless,” and described the actions of the Ivorian government as “hypocritical.”
He wondered why the Ivorians were “up in arms” when both parties had signed a mutual agreement to explore oil in the disputed area.
“Oil exploration started along those areas so many years ago. The Ivorians were involved with their parts of waters and we were dealing with their parts of waters. It is a mutual agreement between the two countries.”
He pointed out that, “there will be some implications” if what the Ivorians are asking for has “any merit” and “the court tribunal is minded to grant it.”
According to K.T Hammond, that government has “gone through the international arbitration process and has invited Ghana to make a firm position on the matter.”
Ghana commenced an arbitration process in 2014 before a Special Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, seeking a declaration that it has not encroached on Ivory Coast’s territorial waters in the exploration of oil after a series of failed negotiations.
Tullow Oil plc on Monday in a statement said it was confident, based on advice from external legal advisors that Ghana had a strong case and that oil production would continue as scheduled.
“The decision on this application for provisional measures should be handed down before the end of April 2015,” the statement also revealed.