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| Prof. Kwaku Appiah-Adu |
The Vice
Dean of the Central Business School at Central University College Professor
Kwaku Appiah-Adu, has charged government to urgently make a firm decision on
who owns Ghana’s Jubilee Gas.
According to him, in the contracts signed with the
Jubilee partners, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) owned the gas
but the mandate establishing the Ghana National Gas Company gave the latter the
authority to own gas, transport and market it.
Prof. Appiah-Adu who was delivering a paper on the
topic: “Fiscal Regime in Oil and Gas Development in Ghana” at a
one-week oil and gas reporting course organised for journalists in Accra, said
there is also the need for a gas evacuation plan to be signed between the owner
and the jubilee partners which would govern the relationship.
“Since the Volta River Authority (VRA) was supposed to
be the principal user of Jubilee Gas, a gas purchase agreement needs to be
signed between VRA and GNPC, GNGC or whoever the owner would be before gas is
delivered.
“Since gas delivery is imminent and issues associated
with such agreements are not always simple, it is important to consider this
subject as a matter of priority and have an agreement signed”, he emphasised.
Though he admits there is some form of ambiguity
regarding ownership of the gas, Deputy Head, Communications Unit at the
Ministry of Energy and Petroleum Ras Liberty Amewode told Savannah that,
GNPC is the rightful owner of the gas.
“It is in the constitution that GNPC own Ghana Gas or
holds it in trust for the State whereas GNGC was set up to market the gas”, he
said, adding that, this abnormally or discrepancy that is likely to create
conflict between the two institutions is well known to the Energy and Petroleum
Ministry.
Mr. Amewode however gave the assurance that, an
Exploration and Production Bill that is currently before Cabinet and is due to
be sent to Parliament to be passed into Law will certainly address this
abnormally.
On the issue of a purchasing agreement that needs to
be signed between VRA and owners of the gas, Mr. Amewode said the agreement is
yet to be signed.
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| Gas infrastructure elsewhere |
The training course organised by PenplusBytes also
known as the International Institute of ICT Journalism, forms part of the
implementation of a six-month project dubbed: “Empowering the media to play active watchdog role over mining, oil and
gas revenue and resources”.
The purpose of the project is to improve the coverage
of oil and gas stories by the Ghanaian media leading to an increase in the
quantity and quality (in terms of in-depth and investigative reporting of oil
and gas stories) thus resulting in the media playing an effective watchdog role
over Ghana’s oil and gas revenues and resources.
The training course which will also offer ample
learning opportunity for participating journalists brought together ten senior
journalists across the country who were selected through a competitive
application process with the consent of the media houses they work with.
Prof. Appiah-Adu, who is also a consultant in oil and
gas, said there is also an urgent need for a gas master plan. “Such a master
plan will offer alternative uses of gas and how Ghana can ensure that over a
determined period, gas is providing us (citizens) with what we require from the
resource.
“Government has to formulate a set of gas rules which
would serve as the basis for establishing gas prices and offer investors who
wish to enter the sector some level of regulatory assurance”, he suggested.
Meanwhile, a legal practitioner Mr. Theodore Adimazoya
speaking on the topic: “Laws and Contracts Governing the Oil and
Gas in Ghana”, encouraged participants to take their time to scrutinize
contracts and laws governing the country’s petroleum sector.
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