Adnan Adams Mohammed
The African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) has reported that, inactive oil blocks which numbers more than 10 have denied Ghana of about US$923 million as at 2019.
Ghana since 2007 has awarded 18 oil blocks to various oil exploration and production companies. Out this, only three blocks have been developed and producing, that include the Jubilee field, TEN fields and the SGN field.
Although, according a report from the Petroleum Commission has indicated that, four inactive oil blocks have been canceled so far, which includes the Shallow Water Cape Three Point, Onshore/Offshore Keta Delta blocks among others.
“Inactivity by oil block holders is causing the country to losses huge revenues as well as denying the country of potential investors”, Samuel Bokoe, an energy consultant has said during a training session organised for media persons and CSOs in Accra, last week. “The Petroleum Commission and relevant stakeholders must up their game to cancel all inactive oil block contracts so they can be available for the next bid rounds.”
The training organised by the Natural Resorce Governance Institute (NRGI) to help enhance the capacity of CSOs and media to use publicly available contracts in the Petroleum Register to demand accountability brought together officials from the Petroleum Commission, selected media persons anti-corruption and energy focused CSOs for a day training.
The training sought to create awareness about the petroleum register and, provide skills required for CSOs and journalists to understand how to navigate the petroleum register.
Some participants who spoke to the Economy Times after the training testified that, they have acquired skills needed to analyze and understand petroleum contracts including other publicly disclosed contracts to complement the efforts of oversight actors and regulators in monitoring these contracts.
