The Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (CSPOG) has called for the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) to be empowered to explore and produce the country’s oil reserves.
Ghana’s oil and gas industry, according to CSPOG, faces grim prospects as the world turns its attention from fossil fuels to renewables.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has predicted that energy investment will shift from oil and gas to renewables in 2021.
An analysis of the country’s oil production data since 2010 indicates that unless new discoveries are made, Ghana’s oil industry will soon become moribund.
CSPOG said in a statement that with Ghana’s reserves of existing producing fields fast depleting, the country risks an imminent downturn in the medium term, and a stranded asset in the long term.
‘CSPOG urges the Ghana National Oil Corporation (GNPC) to take its drive towards operatorship seriously, and to begin negotiations with potential partners towards arrangements that will help to fast track the achievement of this ambition’, the statement read.
The platform said the GNPC must partner with international oil companies already operating in Ghana to build its capacity.
‘GNPC also needs to be resourced financially or redirect some of its non-core expenditure to commence exploration on block one, which was reserved for the corporation during the first bid round and licencing process’, it said.
‘The corporation should also fast track data acquisition and eventual operatorship of the onshore Voltaian Basin to build capacity for operatorship of other fields’.
Furthermore, the platform advised government, through the Ministry of Energy and the Petroleum Commission, to ensure strict and effective implementation of the country’s local content regulations.
It said the country needed capacity for Ghanaian businesses to be able to provide support services to the national oil company when it becomes necessary for the country to exploit its own hydrocarbon resources.
Source: Joy Online
Photo source: WildEarth Guardians
