Parliament orders Amewu to renegotiate the South Deepwater Tano oil deal

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Parliament has asked Energy Minister Peter Amewu to renegotiate the amended agreement between the government and AGM Petroleum for oil exploration in the Deep South West Tano oil bloc.

It responds to the concerns expressed by members of minorities in Parliament's Energy Committee about the decision to reduce by 3% the right to additional shares of the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC).

The minority opposed the government's proposal to amend the original 2013 agreement by insisting that it would reduce Ghana's participation in the bloc from 43% to 18% and would make the nation lose 10 billions of dollars.

They also questioned the basis on which a company that was only registered last year, Quad Petroleum, was awarded a 5% stake as a local partner.

"Who benefits from these 5% local content," Haruna Iddrisu, the minority leader, said Friday at a press conference. Society, discovered by the minority, was born barely a month ago.

Joy News parliamentary correspondent Joseph Opoku Gakpo reported that the House, after a series of consultations among the leaders, agreed to approve the agreement.

However, they ordered the government to change it and increase GNPC's additional interest in the block from 3% to 10%.

Energy Minister John Peter Amewu has six months to return to the House to inform members of the measures taken to renegotiate the amended agreement.

"The recommends that the Minister of Energy, in collaboration with Patrica [mother company of AGM Petroleum and AKER Energy], should facilitate the resolution of problems … and its ensuing interest, said Emmanuel Gyamfi, chairman of the Energy Committee, during the conference.

Despite behind – the – scenes consultations, Adams Mutawakilu, senior official of the Mining and Energy Committee, insisted that the deal was not good enough.

But Deputy Energy Minister Amin Adams justified his decision to reduce Ghana's participation in the bloc, insisting that it would help the country to get more.

He rejected the claim that he was reluctant to give a stake in the oil block to a local company aged one month as a local partner, saying that he had not been there. no law against that.

The John Mahama government first signed an agreement with AGM Petroleum in 2013, but not without ACEP requesting that the agreement be suspended.

But the government explained that a revision had become necessary because Petrica Holding AS acquired in 2018 shares of its parent company, AGM Petroleum, and also owned Aker Energy.

Indeed, the two oil exploration and production companies related to a company are working in the same oil well area at about 3,000 meters deep.