Ghana in deal to develop oil sector

ACCRA – Norway has agreed to supply experts and technical resources to allow Ghana to develop its nascent oil industry, the West African country’s finance minister said on Wednesday.

Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu said Norway would provide people such as petrochemical engineers and information technology specialists, and furnish a legal framework for the oil sector’s development. Independent oil explorer Tullow Oil announced a major find on its offshore West Cape Three Points block in June, which it later said could contain in excess of 1,3 billion barrels of oil.Ghana is joining an expanding club of West African oil producers – the Gulf of Guinea is one of the world’s fastest-growing oil provinces, providing some 17 per cent of US oil imports.Ghana’s Deputy Energy Minister Kwame Ampofo Twumasi and Erik Solheim, Norway’s minister of Environment and International Development, signed the memorandum of understanding at a forum to draft a blueprint for Ghana’s oil and gas industry.More than 300 people, including oil specialists, economists and traditional rulers, are attending the forum.Baah-Wiredu said the memorandum was renewable after five years and aimed to ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks, environmental and safety standards and good resource management.Ghana hopes to follow the example of Canada, which has an oil savings fund, and learn from the experience of West African producers like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, Baah-Wiredu said.”We don’t hear the best stories about some of these countries in our part of the world, but you need to take a look and if they’re bad, you turn it the other way,” he said.The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the state body supervising oil exploration, estimated it would spend US$5 billion to develop the main Tano/Cape Three Point well.Baah-Wiredu said Ghana’s development partners had donated about US$250 000 towards speeding up exploration.He said the dollar earnings from oil would alleviate poverty and boost infrastructure.Plans to raise cocoa output over three years to one million tonnes would further strengthen the economy.Nampa-ReutersIndependent oil explorer Tullow Oil announced a major find on its offshore West Cape Three Points block in June, which it later said could contain in excess of 1,3 billion barrels of oil.Ghana is joining an expanding club of West African oil producers – the Gulf of Guinea is one of the world’s fastest-growing oil provinces, providing some 17 per cent of US oil imports.Ghana’s Deputy Energy Minister Kwame Ampofo Twumasi and Erik Solheim, Norway’s minister of Environment and International Development, signed the memorandum of understanding at a forum to draft a blueprint for Ghana’s oil and gas industry.More than 300 people, including oil specialists, economists and traditional rulers, are attending the forum.Baah-Wiredu said the memorandum was renewable after five years and aimed to ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks, environmental and safety standards and good resource management.Ghana hopes to follow the example of Canada, which has an oil savings fund, and learn from the experience of West African producers like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, Baah-Wiredu said.”We don’t hear the best stories about some of these countries in our part of the world, but you need to take a look and if they’re bad, you turn it the other way,” he said.The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the state body supervising oil exploration, estimated it would spend US$5 billion to develop the main Tano/Cape Three Point well.Baah-Wiredu said Ghana’s development partners had donated about US$250 000 towards speeding up exploration.He said the dollar earnings from oil would alleviate poverty and boost infrastructure.Plans to raise cocoa output over three years to one million tonnes would further strengthen the economy.Nampa-Reuters