The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC, has appealed to President Akufo Addo to intervene and grant the necessary approval in the proposed oil exploration activities in the Voltaian basin.
The CEO of GNPC, Dr. Kofi Koduah Sarpong explains that Ghana may miss out on potential increase in oil revenue due to increased exploration activities should the procurement challenges currently facing his outfit go unaddressed.
The development he also contends could distort the initial schedule to complete all exploration works by mid 2019.
Dr. K. K. Sarpong made the remarks at the official commissioning of the FPSO J.A. Kufuor in the Western region last week Thursday.
“I’d like to appeal to the President to use the Executive power to give us the necessary approval to overcome the procurement challenges currently delaying the project,” he said.
He added, “The next 18 months will see more exploration activities in our quest to discover hydrocarbon in the Voltaian basin which covers Eastern, Volta, Northern and Brong Ahafo regions. It constitutes about 40 percent of the national landmass. This is a potential game changer in Ghana’s oil and gas sector.”
This year marks ten years since Ghana commenced the commercial oil exploration.
The country currently accommodates three oil production fields all in the Western region.
Despite this, the fluctuations in the global oil prices have also affected the economy as the country is a net importer of the commodity.
According to the PIAC’s 2016 Annual Petroleum Revenue Management report, there was a 13.7% decline in crude oil production in 2016 compared to 2015.
The figure dropped from about 37 to 32 million barrels between 2015 and 2016.
Oil revenue equally dropped by 38% between 2015 and 2016, according to PIAC.
The amount declined from 396.17 million dollars in 2015 to 247.18 million dollars in 2016.
Meanwhile Dr. K. K. Sarpong has disclosed that initial tests should commence as soon as the government grants the approval.
“A geochemistry technique which has been successfully deployed in Senegal, will be tested soon before full scale to this seismic survey is embarked on as a way of reducing cost.”
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
