CAPITAL: Accra

MONETARY UNIT: Cedi

REFINING CAPACITY: 26,600 b/cd

PRODUCTION: 6,000 b/d

OIL RESERVES: 16.5 million bbl

GAS RESERVES: 840 bcf

Operators acquired rights to several Gulf of Guinea exploration blocks.

Hunt Oil Co. took a 2.3 million acre deepwater block along the Ivory Coast border just south of a 1.07 million acre block it took in 1996.

Just east of those blocks, Nuevo Energy won the 1.7 million acre Cape Three Points Block off Takoradi, where it planned first drilling in late 1998, and the 2.7 million acre East Cape Three Points Block.

Nuevo said many structures on Cape Three Points appeared analogous to producing fields off Ivory Coast. It identified three prospects as world class exploration objectives with more than 15,000 acres of closure each.

Dana Petroleum and Seafield Resources took rights to 1,455 sq miles in the Tano basin adjacent to Ivory Coast.

Santa Fe Energy Resources won the 2.5 million acre Keta Block in the Volta River delta about 100 miles east of Accra. One well was required.

Other energy

A CMS Energy Corp. unit formed a joint venture with Ghana`s national electricity unit, Volta River Authority, in late 1996. The joint venture was to acquire VRA`s 300 MW, oil and gas-fired Takoradi generating station under construction. It also was to pursue feasibility of developing the 400 MW Bui hydroelectric plant on the Black Volta River in central Ghana.

Volta River Authority let a $55 million contract to Stone & Webster Inc., Boston, for engineering, procurement, and construction of the second phase of the 350 MW Takoradi gas-fired power plant. General Electric was providing key equipment for the plant.

Completion was set for September 1998. Stone & Webster also built the plant`s first phase, a 200 MW unit that started up in mid-1997. Phase 2 called for converting the plant from simple-cycle to combined-cycle operation. Takoradi is the first gas-fired power plant in Ghana, which traditionally relied on hydropower.