According to him, government is working on a regulation that will give some state agencies the power to check and inspect total production of oil and gold before it leaves the country.

Speaking at the 69th Annual New Year School and Conference at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana, Dr. Bawumia bemoaned the practice where the nation is shortchanged in its natural resources.

“We are going to demand a transparent accounting of our natural resources that we are exporting.  For the most part, we are just told, we are exporting this amount of gold. How sure are we that is the amount of gold that is been exported. We have been told we exported so much of oil, how sure are we, that that is really the amount of oil that is coming out?” he queried.

Dr. Bawumia maintained that government will independently vet figures presented by oil and gold companies to make sure it corresponds with the actual situation on the ground.

“We are going to insist on a transparent accounting for our natural resources. We are coming out with some kind of regulations on this soon. In other countries for example, it’s really in the control of government until you export it, so that we know what it is. So we are going to talk with the mining companies and the oil companies,” he stressed.

He was optimistic the exercise will be a useful one that will help Ghana block leakages that result in the country losing its natural resources through export.

–

By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t to critically vet gold, oil before export appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government should have shown the same enthusiasm towards the plan under the John Mahama administration as it is currently.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bMWcEcwGq2hfCvDzoNdDjPlj6fwIcymN”]President Akufo-Addo on Thursday, July 6, commissioned the Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO) John Agyekum Kufuor to formally kick-start the production of oil in commercial quantities from the Sankofa Gye-Nyame Fields although the arrangement for the FPSO was undertaken by the John Mahama government.

Mr. Kofi Buah in an interview with Citi News expressed regret members of the New Patriotic Party, then in opposition, were not truthful to support the NDC’s efforts when it was in power.

“I had wished that we had gotten all the support from the NPP then in opposition. On a constant basis, this project was condemned when critical investors were here. On the eve of the Italian Prime Minister’s visit to Ghana, the minority had a press conference condemning this important project. But of course we now know that none of them was true,” he said.

‘John Mahama named 3rd FPSO after Kufuor’

The Ellembele legislator and ranking member on the Energy and Mines Committee of Parliament had earlier said the decision to name the 3rd FPSO after former President John Kufuor was taken by John Mahama.

He said it was to recognize the role that Kufuor played in Ghana’s 2007 discovery of oil in commercial quantities.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kofi Buah chides ‘hypocritical’ NPP over FPSO Kufour appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This call comes barely 24-hours after ACEP also called on the CEO of BOST to step aside for investigations into the matter, following Citi Business News’ exclusive revelation of the development.

According to the Minority, the transaction between BOST and an unlicensed company, Movenpiina, is fraught with irregularities and possible corruption to the tune of 14.25 million cedis.

[contextly_sidebar id=”fM0ZzzKdUcyaECeG1VhjEa4x6Eyxstwk”]Addressing the press, Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, Armah Kofi Buah, argued that “the justification by BOST that the contaminated products were sold for use by manufacturing companies is untenable.”

“The norm and practice is that, when such contamination occur, corrective treatment of these products are undertaken by the Tema Oil Refinery through blending. Why did BOST not arrange with TOR for the treatment of this particular fuel? Available information indicates that BOST failed to exhaust all means to ensure TOR blends this contaminated fuel.”

“The argument by BOST that the blending couldn’t be done at TOR because the CDU is down is most untenable,” Mr. Buah added.

Mr. Buah, on behalf of the Minority therefore demanded a full scale investigation into the sale of the contaminated oil.

The Minority also made the following requests:

• Full scale investigation by the regulatory authorities
• The immediate withdrawal of the contaminated product from the market to protect consumers and assurances that this will not recur.
• That the financial loss estimated at GHS 14.25 million be retrieved by surcharging the offending officials at BOST in line with the recent Supreme Court decision.

We didn’t err in dealings with Movenpiina, ZUPOIL – BOST

The Minority’s demands come hours after the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), refuted claims it failed to carry out due diligence in its award of contracts to Movenpiina and ZUPOIL with regards to the sale 5 million litres of contaminated fuel.

BOST in response to ACEP’s claim indicated in a statement that its technical team inspected the facility of ZUPOIL “and was satisfied.”

“BOST deploys the use of bulk road vehicles that have tracking devices installed and have dully met the requirements of NPA to haul products. Thus, rendering BOST extremely responsible. Anyone with information on the illegal sale of the product at the pumps should report to the appropriate authority for immediate action.”

–

By: Marian Ansah & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Interdict BOST Director over sale of contaminated fuel – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

But if you think the mining menace is happening only on land, you may want to reconsider your stands. Apart from fish from inland sources like River Ankobra and others becoming poisonous due to heavy metals in them, the oceans, which currently supply majority of the fish we consume is faced with “sea galamsey”.

[contextly_sidebar id=”F2LWajPsOwGvVL8YZlftSZiiUQzoUust”]As we speak, the entire coast from Keta in the Volta Region to Half Assini in the Western Region has been open up for oil exploration. Oil companies are crisscrossing the sea every time for oil, just as miners do.

But you know; Ghana has three oil fields. Each of them has 500 meter safety zone around its FPSOs. Truth is; these installations obstruct fishing activities no matter the explanation suggesting otherwise. Add that to the illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing practices by the fishermen themselves; and the fishing space is in turbulence.

While at that, between January and March this year, different oil companies are carrying out different activities that impede fishing in the western waters; particularly at different times. Tullow Oil started another seismic survey on 16th January, 2017, and ended on 16th March, 2017.

For 49 clear technical days that this activity was carried out within the 3 months period, fishermen who carry out their expedition in this part of the coast have had interrupted expeditions.

Whilst they were on it, four sea accidents were recorded where ships carrying the seismic surveys collided with innocent fishermen on their fishing expedition. The accident led to the loss of two canoes and other fishing gears.

Others were left on high seas for three days against their initial plan. Till date, two of the disputed cases are yet to be addressed.

Secondly, when the FPSO J.A. Kufuor by ENI was been anchored to its final destination in January, fishing activities were also hampered for 7 clear days.

As we speak, Springfield E&P, another Oil company, is also carrying out seismic surveys in the same western waters. They started on April 10th and will complete on May 7th.

No one is saying we shouldn’t prospect for oil. But, as we’ve messed up with gold, if similar is done offshore, where every area is permitted for prospecting, we will crush down the fisheries sector employing 10 percent of the population.

Again, this should scare you the more. There are four coastal regions in Ghana. Out of these, the Western Region produces one-third (1/3) of total fish catch in Ghana annually from its 197 landing sites. It is followed by the Greater Accra Region, Central Region then Volta Region.

However, the leading fish producing region; Western, is the region seeing increased search for oil. So where are we going? And what will become of the fishing space?

In 2016, the Fisheries Ministry projected that fishermen across the country will harvest a total of 329,358.42 metric tons of fish. However, by the end of December 2016, the fishermen could do 294,627.07 metric tons, a shortage of 34,731.35mt. Bear in mind that we are already importing some 1 million metric tons of fish already. So what are we doing to ourselves?

Now check out the similarities between what is happening with galamsey and what is happening offshore.

Problem with what is happening offshore is that, our government feels oil is important than those fishermen and the fish they get. Yes, but the number of people whose livelihood depend on this sector that we are gradually killing it is enormous. No one would want that to happen to its country. Oil cannot replace fish.

Other countries drilling oil have exclusive zones reserved for fishing. Friends of the Nation and Hen Mpoano, all NGOs in the western region have advocated for this exclusive zone, yet, 10 years down the line, the situation remains same. We are waiting till it gets to the levels of Galamsey before the media is called in. Our behaviour does not reflect a serious country. The tragedy of mining in Ghana is that, every part of the country is opened up for mining and it’s a problem with leadership, not the citizens.

So the question is: Why is leadership giving out all lands and rivers out for mining without recourse to tomorrow?

Maybe those of us at Citi FM and other media organisations, must be thinking of the next hashtag.
–
By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/Citifmonline.com/Ghana
[email protected]

The post Obrempong’s Oil Diary: Sacrificing fishes for oil; a ‘galamsey’ threat offshore appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Who is buying Ghana’s oil from the flagship Jubilee Field and recently, the TEN fields? Which companies are selling or buying them?

You may perhaps be asking, why does this matter? Oh yeah! It matters extremely because it’s an avenue for oil companies to escape taxes and to perpetrate fraud! Please spare some few minutes as we make sense of some leads in Ghana’s oil space.

Dr. Manteaw posed the question at a National Stakeholders forum on petroleum sector governance, organized by Friends of the Nation in Takoradi.

At that forum, he discussed with two other panellists – Benjamin Boakye of the African Centre for Energy Policy; ACEP, and Michael Asare-Akonnor of the Ministry of Finance on the theme; “Towards a decade of commercial oil discovery; progress made in addressing citizens’ concern”.

The moderator for the discussion; Solomon Kusi Ampofo, Communication, Advocacy and Campaigns Coordinator at Friends of the Nation posed this question.

“Dr. Manteaw, can you brief us on GHEITI’s report and what these reports reflect”?

Dr. Manteaw responds and I quote; “GHEITI… also requires transparency in commodity trading. I will cite example from the 2015 PIAC report. Over here, we found out that the Jubilee crude which the entire Jubilee partners are trading, sold at different prices over the same time frame. The highest achieved price was that of Tullow Oil which was somewhere in the region of $62-$64 per barrel. GNPC managed something around $52 per barrel and Kosmos also did $52 per barrel. This tells you that the two [GNPC and Kosmos] are selling at a fair market price.”

“When you delve into this statistics, it tells you that Tullow was able to get a higher achieved price [$62] because of its hedging policy. So Tullow hedged and won. But what is more intriguing is what Anadarko got for its oil, which is Jubilee crude. Anadarko sold for $44 per barrel. Jubilee crude? Selling at $44 per barrel? When others were selling 50 and 60?

[“…there is insider trading; trading within an affiliated entity. So they fix the price so low and sell it among themselves; and therefore, the lower the profit, the lower the tax on this profit they have to pay to the state. It’s possible”!-Dr. Manteaw, 2016]

Well, there could be explanations. It could be that, Anadarko hedged and lost; when Tullow hedged and won.
It could also be that Anadarko is not quoting the fair price. Maybe there is insider trading; trading within an affiliated entity. So they fix the price so low and sell it among themselves; such that, the lower the profit, the lower the tax on this profit they have to pay to the state. It’s possible! [Read about Mopani Glencore Scandal in Zambia and you will understand].

[Getting information in terms of what the companies are paying, and what is coming to the state are not enough. We need to be interested in who is buying our crude and at what price-Dr. Manteaw, 2016].

But, how do you establish that fact? We need to investigate it. But the question is; have we as a nation investigated it? The answer is No!

You see, getting information in terms of what the companies are paying, and what is coming to the state are not enough. We need to be interested in who is buying our crude and at what price.

[Either the suspicion that Saltpond Oil is mixed with stolen oil from Nigeria and other places is true, or it could be that indeed Saltpond Oil sold at a fair and right price but it is Anardako that is fixing price-Dr. Manteaw 2016].

And it becomes more interesting when you consider the fact that Saltpond Oil, which is a heavy crude, inferior crude, sold for $50 [in 2015], and Jubilee crude sold for $52. Really?

But that could also mean something. Either the suspicion that Saltpond Oil is mixed with stolen oil from Nigeria and other places is true, or it could be that indeed Salpond Oil sold at a fair and right price but it is Anardako that is fixing price.

So getting data on the price at which your oil is selling is as important as getting data on how much revenue you are getting as a state.

[During the first two years of oil production, we had a marketing arrangement with Cirus Oil and Vitol. Tried as I did to get a copy of the marketing arrangement, I failed-Dr. Manteaw, 2016].

In this direction, the GHEITI is interested in GNPC and how much they are selling our share of the Jubilee crude for and who is buying.

During the first two years of oil production, we had a marketing arrangement with Cirus Oil and Vitol. Tried as I did to get a copy of the marketing arrangement, I failed. Dr. Joe Abbey of CEPA also tried but failed to get a copy of the marketing contract.

I went all the way to write to the then minister of Energy and Petroleum Dr. Oteng Adjei to ask if we could get a copy of the contract. He told me those guys at GNPC are my friends so I know how to get it. I went to GNPC I did not get it.

[In whose interest is the reason the contract is been hidden, why?]

Now we have a contract with UNIPEK; a Chinese company which is now buying our oil. We have signed with an off taker agreement.

Thankfully through GHEITI, the contract is published now at GHEITI website. But it took some effort. I personally had to intervene to impress on the GNPC to make that document publicly available.

“So this is what the GHEITI is doing to push the frontiers of transparency in the management of the natural resource revenues in Ghana”.

Dr. Manteaw has been articulating similar sentiments on different natural resource platforms.

Stay connected for another edition of the Obrempong’s Oil Diary.
–
By: Obrempong’s Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Obrempong’s oil diary: Who is buying Ghana’s oil? Dr. Manteaw asks appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

And in order for the larger national interest, such persons or communities have had to make sacrifices willingly or by coercion.

However, problems arise from these situations due to how those involved in taking the resource, mitigate the effects or compensate the affected persons or communities.

Sadly in our part of the world, such situations are handled differently and sometimes haphazardly; or if you like “the African way”.

In Ghana’s Western Region, the two actors [the state and private producers], have literally turned a blind eye to those affected by the activities leading up to the progress and successes Ghana has recorded after exploration, discovery and production.

One would have thought that the stakeholders would have taken valuable lessons at least from the Nigerian experience; that led to the emergence of militants in the Niger Delta.

Below is a direct transcription of comments made by the Paramount Chief of the Western Nzema Traditional Area in the Western Region, Awulae Annor Adjaye, at a recent African Oil and Gas Summit on September 27, 2016.

Present at the summit were ministers of state, parliamentarians, Members of the diplomatic corps, International oil and gas experts, Country Rep of the IMF, Civil society organizations among others.

Awulae Annor Adjaye was on a panel discussing the topic “Translating Ghana’s oil wealth to broad based development: Implications for government, businesses, and affected communities”.

He was on this platform with Kwame Jantuah, Chairman Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Mathew Armah, Team Leader, Western Region Coastal Foundation, whiles Mrs. Nana Ama Yirrah, Executive Director of COLANDEF facilitated the discussions.

When Awulae Annor Adjaye grabbed the microphone, he said, “I am going to be controversial here”.

The room suddenly was quiet, and the over two hundred participants were mute.

Awulae cleared his throat and started and I quote…

“I am a traditional leader along the coast of the western region and also in two organizations that call themselves NGOs or CSOs. I see a lot happening. I want to address how we have performed with our oil revenues and the impact of the oil find on communities. But I will disaggregate it into the livelihood of the people. As far as I am concerned, we [Ghanaians] have performed negatively with the management of our oil monies.

“If you take the September 21st [2016] Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, you will read that the $3.208b [oil Revenues realized in a period of 5 years since first commercial oil in 2010] have been spent. Yes! It has all been spent! It is written there in these dailies, and they have shown the areas where the expenditure has taken place. Get a copy and crosscheck.

But, down in my village there, I’m talking about Domunli enclave or Bonyere area, where they have cut down people’s coconut trees. If you go to ask the people, they will show you a receipt indicating that they cut down maybe 20 coconut trees valued at XYZ cedis. But as at this time that they [government] have spent the $3 point something billion, they have not paid the monies as compensations. Yeah! They have not paid it. Is this a positive impact on somebody’s livelihood?”

“Last Saturday, I met all my chiefs and the queen mothers, and I can assure you that those who have squandered these monies without paying the compensation due those whose coconut trees were taken down will hear from us soon from the streets, and we will mention their names, because you cannot just dissipate this quantum of money and refuse to pay for the destruction you have done there. And it is not only in these enclaves, you go to Atuabo where the Gas processing Plant is, you will hear similar stories before we talk about the effects of their activities on fishing in the sea.”

“All that I am telling you is that, in reality, people’s livelihoods have been negatively impacted and they have not been addressed. Talking about the environment, if there are coconuts trees around, and you mow them down, and practically do not start work, what have you done? Areas you take for your activities have been cleared for years without work, without the right compensations, how do you expect communities in these areas to say that the oil find has brought relief to them? To some people, this is their only source of livelihood. The coconut is their only livelihood. They are not getting their compensations and they don’t know when they are going to be paid.”

“Think of this too, if they have to wait for another year again, the value of the money that will be paid them will dwindle. What good have we done to these poor people when this happen? I want all of you to know that, in many communities in Africa, some of these things are happening and we seem to be quiet over them because some of us as chiefs are being used as shields. We have to protect and talk to people not to do demonstrations, we have to talk to them so they do not destroy pipeline as it is happening in Nigeria etc. So if you use me as a shield and then my people destroy me, you feel you have finished. You have not done anything!”

“As a leader, I will not sit down for this to happen. I will rather rally the people behind me, and fight for them to achieve what they have to get, and this is what is going to happen very soon in our part of the Western Region,” he warned.

“When the chiefs in the Western Region were asking for 10 percent of the oil royalties, many of you said we were going to use the monies to buy big cloths and umbrellas, ride in big palanquins or we were even joking. As if we didn’t know what we were about. Today, go and see how long it will take you to commute just between Takoradi and Sekondi. Go and see how difficult it is to get accommodation in Takoradi. Go and see the kind of pressure on the roads that were not built for these big trucks. Are you thinking about the young ones who are good academically but are not getting scholarship to school? Are you thinking about these problems? It is obvious they do not care. Government must come to address these problems”! End of quote!!!

So expect the demonstration sometime soon. The Chiefs and the queen mothers may be hitting the streets to demand the compensation for coconut trees that oil and gas companies destroyed.

God, save us!!! Save us from the hands of Nigeria’s Niger Delta, for we are just not ready for this.

I hope someone is reading! Well, expect another interesting read from Obrempong’s Oil Diary.
–
By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Obrempong’s Oil Diary: Chiefs to demonstrate over ‘chopped’compensation appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.