Tycoon Sanjeev Mansotra’s Planet One strikes gas off Ghana

Planet One Oil and Gas Ltd., the energy company of Dubai-based Indian tycoon Sanjeev Mansotra, has made a gas and condensate discovery in the Deepwater Cape Three Points block off Ghana’s western coast, President John Mahama announced on Nov. 10.

The find came from the Nya Gyidie-1X exploration well, which Planet One drilled with its partners, the state-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corp. and GOIL Upstream Ltd., a unit of fuel distributor GOIL Plc. Mahama said the size of the discovery has not yet been established.

The well is the first in Ghana to successfully test a Cenomanian-Turonian carbonate play, a type of reservoir rock that had not produced a find in the country before, according to the president. It also targeted deeper Lower Albian rocks as a secondary objective.

A first well for Planet One

The discovery is a quick result for a company that entered Ghana’s oil industry less than three years ago. The Deepwater Cape Three Points block was originally licensed in 2019 to ExxonMobil, GOIL Upstream and GNPC. After Exxon pulled out, GOIL Upstream looked for a new partner to take on the remaining work commitments, and in December 2023 it signed farm-in and joint operating agreements with Planet One on the sidelines of the COP28 climate talks in Dubai.

Planet One became operator of the block, which lies in deep water next to the Tano Basin, home to Ghana’s producing Jubilee and TEN oil fields. The company told regulators last year that it planned to drill its first exploration well in early 2026, and said in March that it had committed $165 million to the project for this year, with the potential to double that over the following two years. It has also started investing in a second offshore block, in shallow water north of the Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa fields.

Mahama said the drilling showed that investors are regaining confidence in Ghana’s oil industry. Crude output has risen to more than 120,000 barrels a day, he said, and the partners in the Jubilee field have committed $2 billion to new investment. The government has sent amendments to the country’s petroleum exploration law to the cabinet to improve incentives for investors as it tries to offset declining production from older fields.

Who is Sanjeev Mansotra

Mansotra, who is based in Dubai, is the founder and chairman of Planet One Group, which has spread across Africa in sectors from oil and gas to education and vocational training.

Much of the group’s work has been with governments. In March, Planet One announced vocational training projects worth $327 million in Togo, Guinea and Senegal, backed by a €50 million ($56 million) credit line from the Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development. In August, Mansotra met Ivory Coast’s higher education minister in Dubai about a planned $1 billion investment in the country’s universities and research sector. His foundation also builds schools in Tanzania.

Mansotra has described Ghana as one of Africa’s most stable long-term investment destinations.

GNPC and Planet One have not said how much gas and condensate the well found, or when further appraisal drilling will take place.