GNPC has enough justification to proceed with acquiring stakes in offshore fields - Expert
GNPC plans to acquire two stakes in Ghana's offshore fields
Petroleum expert, Dr Theo Acheampong has said the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has enough justification to proceed with its intention to purchase two stakes in Ghana’s offshore fields.
Read full articleEnergy Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh in a memorandum submitted to Parliament earlier this week requested approval for a US$1.65 billion loan for the purchase.
Reacting to the development, Dr Acheampong believes the move will ensure GNPC gains control of some of the country's oil exploration and production projects.
“They talk about building and expanding their capacity, they talk about growing and replacing reserves, they talk about efficient capitalization which is where the money bit comes in and then they also talk about capitalizing local content development,” Dr. Acheampong said this on Asaase Radio monitored by GhanaWeb.
Theo Acheampong further adds the move falls in with GNPC’s strategy towards becoming a world class exploration and production entity by the year 2027.
Meanwhile, in the just presented mid-year budget statement by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta hinted at GNPC’s resolve to acquire two stakes in the offshore field which will primarily accelerate exploration and production.
The move, the minister said is vital for energy transition efforts.
“Given the prevailing sentiments around energy transition, there is a strong possibility that Ghana may be left with stranded assets, unless we accelerate our exploration activities and develop a home-grown strategy to extract our fossil fuels” Ofori-Atta earlier told lawmakers.
The process on the part of government through GNPC has been initiated to acquire a 37% stake in the Deep Water Tano Cape Three Points and a 70% stake in the South Deepwater Tano.
