Roundup: Low activities in Ghana's oil and gas sector worrying: expert

After discovering oil in commercial quantities nine years ago, Ghana currently faces drought in exploration activities in the upstream petroleum sector.

This situation is what energy think tank African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) has described as worrying for the future of the country's oil production.

The Executive Director of ACEP, Mohammed Amin Adams, expressed this concern during the launch of the Citizens Agenda for Energy Sector Development Project.

The project aims at helping citizens demand from political parties their policies for the energy sector during the campaign towards the 2016 general election.

"Given the current level of inactivity on Ghana's exploration map, we are worried about the future of the oil industry. We are currently depleting reserves without replacing them at the same level as oil companies hold inactive petroleum licenses.

"Ghanaians must be concerned about the policy proposals of our political parties for attracting upstream investments because future production of oil depends on discoveries made today," urged Adams, who is also a petroleum economist.

Whilst stakeholders gear up for a review of the policy proposals of the political parties, Adams urged that urgent decisions be made about inactivity in the upstream sub-sector.

This, he said, was important because although government had granted so many exploration licenses, the licensees were just holding on to their blocks with no activity.

"For example, should the government stop granting discretionary extensions to licensees that are not active? Where extensions are granted, should they fall within the requirements of Petroleum Agreements, including the exercise of appropriate relinquishment clauses?

"Where there is no justifiable reason for non-activity on the part of licensees, should the government exercise its right to abrogate those licenses in order to prevent speculation?" he asked.

Ghanaians are beginning to experience some power outages as the local supply of gas as well as gas supply from Nigeria have reduced due to technical and financial challenges.

Amin therefore urged that political parties present pragmatic measures to address challenges facing the country's energy sector.

"No matter which party wins the elections in November, the energy sector crisis won't go away without pragmatic steps to address the root causes of the challenges.

"There are important developments on the energy front, which the next government will be confronted with. In our view, irrespective of the party that wins the elections, the challenges will be the same," he stressed.

He said the political parties should be made to present workable proposals for scrutiny and consideration by citizens to make informed decisions on which party to vote for.

The Majority leader in parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, said here earlier government had presented a new Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill to parliament to deal with some of the pressing challenges in the upstream petroleum sector. Endit