Ghana reaps nearly 979 mln USD from oil in 2014

Ghana's share of oil exports from its Jubilee field in 2014 totaled 978.8 million U.S. dollars, Minister of Finance Seth Terkper said Tuesday.

Total oil export from the Jubilee field for the year under review was about 37.2 million barrels, equivalent to 42.6 percent increase over the 2011 volume of production.

This was contained in the minister's message at the launch of the 2012/2013 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) reports on the oil and gas as well as the mining sectors.

Ghana commenced the commissioning of gas production from the Jubilee field in the last quarter of 2014, after the completion of the China Development Bank (CDB)-funded Ghana gas processing facility at Atuabo, 326.6 km west of the capital.

Complete gas production is expected to ease pressure on the oil wells which until first gas had re-injected into them owing to the country's policy of zero-gas flaring.

Oil production therefore averaged 101,992 barrels of oil per day (bopd), with the production vessel, FPSO Kwame Nkrumah's full capacity at 120,000 bopd.

"To date, the field has produced over 124 million barrels of crude oil," the finance minister disclosed.

He however lamented the falling crude oil prices on the world stage by over 50 percent to 50 dollars per barrel from 120 dollars per barrel in June 2014.

"The declining oil prices provide both opportunities and risks to the economy of Ghana. While the country makes saving on the import of crude oil, it would also impact negatively on the government's revenues from the export of crude oil," he pointed out.

Terkper added that the price volatilities would generally harm both importers and exporters of oil as it lowers, for instance, the predictability of marginal costs of production for companies.

"The uncertainties regarding cash flows may induce companies to reduce their investments and limit job creation which can consequently harm economic growth," the minister projected.

The GHEITI is a civil society, private sector and government initiative to promote transparency in the extractive industry, ranging from the award of contracts to the use of resources.

It is co-chaired by the state and a representative of civil society with all extractive firms in oil and gas as well as the mining sector represented.

Steve Manteaw, Co-Chairman of GHEITI, expressed satisfaction at the level of achievements so far chalked by the local initiative of the global EITI.

"In spite of this progress, the extractive industry Balance Sheet will remain unbalanced if it is not able to tell how much it has cost the nation to achieve the successes being talked about," the co-chairman stressed.

He urged that the social and environmental cost of the extractive industry be brought to the fore in the activities of GHEITI, hoping that the findings in the 2012 and 2013 reports would induce policy reforms in the sector. Endi