IMANI lacks understanding of the oil economy – Amewu

General News of Saturday, April 27, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-04-27

IMANI Africa's badysis of the contractual agreement between the government and the Norwegian oil company Aker Energy on the Deepwater Tano / Cape Three Points block (DWT / CTP) lacked technical knowledge and understanding of the oil economy.

Peter John Amewu, Minister of Energy, said this at a press conference held in Accra on Friday to address the concerns expressed by the think tank IMANI Africa on Thursday, April 25.

Recalling the context of the contractual agreement between the government and AMERADA HESS Corporation, the minister stated that the agreement was signed on February 8, 2006 and covered seven discoveries, namely: Pecan North, Almond, Cobalt , beech, pecan, paradise and north hickory.

He said the first five discoveries were oil wells, while Paradise and Hickory North operated on gas.

However, Aker Energy acquired HESS's interest in 2018 and continued its unfinished appraisal work.

Mr. Amewu stated that Aker Energy, after a successful evaluation of the Pecan field, had discovered crude oil in commercial quantities based on existing data from seismic soundings and drilled wells, as well as badysis of the results of the well Pecan-4A, estimated and 550 million barrels of oil.

As a result, Aker Energy, on behalf of the partners, submitted Pecan's Petroleum Development Plan (PDD) on March 28, 2019. The document was then submitted to the Petroleum Commission, which had the technocrats and expertise necessary for the evaluation.

Amewu said the Petroleum Committee submitted his report on the DDA review on April 17, and communicated the shortcomings of the 29 prerequisites of the PDD to Aker Energy on April 24 for correction. and was supposed to be resubmitted within 45 days.

The Minister therefore stated IMANI's badertion that the Minister did not act within 30 days of the submission of Aker Energy's POD on the DWT / CTP as untenable.

As a result, Amewu denied IMANI's claims that Ghana was on the verge of losing $ 30 billion if the government failed to act diligently under the oil deal with the oil company. Norwegian.

The minister explained that, given the average recovery rate of crude oil in the country of 25%, the value of TPL / CTP oil blocks would be estimated at $ 7.3 billion, baduming a crude oil price of $ 65 a barrel.

However, the Government was working with Aker Energy to improve the country's oil recovery mechanism by taking advantage of the company's new technology to achieve a 40% recovery rate, which would bring the value of the oilfield to 11%. , $ 7 billion.

He said that the country held between 55 and 60% of the net oil produced in accordance with the contractual agreement with Aker Energy and other benefits such as interest deferred, the payment of tax on corporations and royalties, as set out in the 2016 Petroleum Exploration and Production Act. (Law 919).

"It must be said that as a country, we work under the laws governing petroleum agreements. Therefore, any oil discovery, when it will be produced, will be shared in accordance with the terms of the applicable oil agreement, Amewu said.

The minister noted that nothing justified a new oil deal, as IMANI claimed, because the work done by Aker Energy was part of an evaluation program based on the existing agreement.

In response to the allegation that MK K. Sarpong, President and CEO of GNPC, would hold the 2% stake in Fuel Trade, one of the DWT / CTP contract partners, Mr. Amewu has stated that the fuel trade was paying $ 9 million for the 2% stake and the $ 2 million good performance guarantee in 2015.

He therefore urged those interested in knowing the true beneficial owners of Fuel Trade to check with the Registrar General's office rather than peddle lies.

On Thursday, April 25th, IMANI Africa, a policy think tank, during an outreach program, expressed concern over various omissions and / or government commissions regarding Aker Energy's development plan covering DWT / CTP contract. area.