The firm’s Energy & Natural Resources team is led by Senior Partner Kojo Bentsi-Enchill, who has been described by the 2015 Chambers and Partners law directory as “a leader in his understanding of this sector”. The team has worked on most of the high profile energy (including oil and gas, power and renewables) and mining deals in Ghana.
The team’s advice in the oil and gas sector has been across the whole range of issues, including Local Content regulations, petroleum agreements, Government Consent and Support Agreements, and upstream and downstream assets acquisitions and representing major corporate entities including Kosmos, Tullow Oil and Vivo Energy. In the mining sector, the team regularly acts for foreign companies seeking to acquire or divest assets in Ghana, as well as the major indigenous mining institutions, across the full range of legal advisory issues that arise in the sector. The team also has significant depth of experience and expertise in advising on regulatory, taxation and labour issues affecting the energy and natural resources sectors.
BELA has worked on most of the high profile energy and natural gas deals in Ghana in recent years. We have acted for and advised a range of companies from major multinationals to indigenous SMEs in the oil and gas sector on the following:
The firm has worked on a range of the leading power projects in Ghana, both in traditional electricity generation and in renewables such as solar, waste to energy and wind. BELA regularly advises its clients on issues in all phases of the project development process, from structuring, due diligence, drafting and negotiation, financing, siting and permitting, regulatory and construction through to completion. Some highlights include:
BELA has acted for many international and local mining and mining services companies across the whole gamut of legal issues affecting the sector, including:
KOJO BENTSI-ENCHILL Senior Partner Head, Energy & Natural Resources Kojo Bentsi-Enchill is the Senior Partner and Head of the Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group of the firm. He has for many years led much of the firm’s work on oil and gas, power and mining. Kojo has broad experience in mining and energy issues, corporate transactions and their related security arrangements. He has unrivalled local knowledge and understanding of the issues impacting the mining and energy sectors in Ghana. Kojo has worked on several marquee deals on the Ghanaian market and is a highly regarded corporate lawyer both in Ghana and abroad and has a passionate commitment to providing commercial solutions to client concerns. Kojo graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon with LL.B. in 1973; Ghana Law School (QCL.,1975). He did Post Graduate Research on Mining Concessions Law, 1874 -1962 at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was awarded the J. Donaldson Bye-Fellowship, 1978-1979. After Cambridge, Kojo worked as an Assistant Program Officer in the International Human Rights at the Ford Foundation, New York between 1982-1984. He then worked as a Foreign Associate with Shearman & Sterling, LLP, and New York from 1984 -1986, he worked in teams involved in international LNG arbitration, and then bank finance. Kojo returned to Ghana in 1988 and set up the firm, which has grown to 8 Partners and 35 Associates. Kojo’s personal focus is on (a) his wife and 3 children; (b) reading socio-political stuff, (c) researching Ghana legal history; (d) playing, or rather trying to play, classical piano music, and (e) watching terrible action movies.
