The World Bank Group has said it would provide $517million to Ghana in debt and guarantees to support the $7.7billion Sankofa oil and gas project.
It is being developed by Italy’s Eni and Vitol Ghana.
The bank’s investment arm and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has committed to a loan of $235million to Vitol Ghana and is arranging another $65million in debt.
Meanwhile guarantees by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, another Bank institution, will support Vitol Ghana’s commercial borrowing needs for the project and will be issued for up to 15 years.
Eni holds a 44.4% stake in Sankofa, Vitol holds 35.6% while Ghana National Petroleum Corporation holds a combined carried and participating interest of 20%.
Ghana first began pumping oil in 2010 at the offshore Jubilee field operated by Tullow, a British company that this August opened a second field called TEN.
Sankofa is expected to generate about 1,000 megawatts of power to Ghana and combined with gas from two other new fields could eliminate the need for Ghana to import gas from Nigeria through the West African Gas Pipeline Company.