Tullow US$30bn in CSI report is out of whack – ex GNPC Boss
Adnan Adams Mohammed
A former boss of Ghana National Petr
oleum Corporation (GNPC), Alex Mould has challenged the claims of Tullow Ghana that it has spent in total about US$30 billion in various forms of social –economic projects in the country since 2011.
oleum Corporation (GNPC), Alex Mould has challenged the claims of Tullow Ghana that it has spent in total about US$30 billion in various forms of social –economic projects in the country since 2011.
According to Tullow Plc, a cumulative amount of US$17 billion worth of investments accounts for the impact that Tullow Ghana has made in the local economy.
The operator maintained that, US$30 billion socio-economic impacting projects, excludes the benefits associated with the training of the local people and their multiplying effects on the Ghanaian people.
However, the former key player of the industry has challenged these data given by the operator of Jubilee and TEN Oil Fields.
He retorted that, the whole revenue accrued from sale of about 200m bbls is less than US$17 billion.
Mr Mould, who has been the leader of the national company which is a partner to all operations in the oil sector said, what Tullow is not saying is that, although over 60% of the staff are local, betwwen 65-75% of the wage bill accrues to expatriates.
He explained that, if you look at the Head office charges (that is, paying the salaries of “assistance given by H/O (Tullow UK to Tullow Ghana”) then it goes to over 90%, and yet, they are letting off Ghanaians and still keeping their head count in UK.
He further stated that, “what they are not saying is that they are refusing to pay our Additional Oil Entitlement (AoE) which accrues to Ghana when they have excess than agreed Rate of Return) of about US$250m since inception.
“What they are failing to say is that out of the US$8 billion awarded to JVs, less than 10% of that revenue and less than 5% of the profits goes to Local partners.”
In an interview with Economy Times newspaper, Mr Mould advised that, it’s important that things are put into perspective.
He further called on the government of Ghana to source for the right people who are knowledgeable at Ghana Revenue Authority to challenge and demand for what is rightfully due the country.
Tullow has been sharing highlights of their contribution to the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
It said, since its operation in 2006 in Ghana, in offshore oil exploration and production, the company has made tremendous impact in support of the country’s fiscal and economic growth.
Director of External Affairs and Social Performance with Tullow Ghana Limited, Ms. Cynthia Lumor at a press engagement last week in Takoradi indicated that, oil liftings to GNPC in the same year accrued to US$2.5 billion.
She explained further that, a total of US$938 million, as at December 2017, was paid to government in terms of royalties.
Tullow Ghana has since paid in total an amount of US$845 million as taxes to the state.
Tullow and its partners claim that, they have save the Ghanaian government an amount ranging from US$1.7 billion to 2.4 billion from the supply of foundation gas to the Ghana Gas Company Limited.
“One of the benefits is the fact the 200 billion cubic feet of gas that is being supplied to Ghana Gas, are at no cost to government . So when we look at 200 bcf for gas, the crude oil that you will need to generate that amount of gas, they value it depending on what price you are using is between US$1.7 billion and 2.4 billion”, Ms Lumor explained.
Tullow Ghana further indicated that, it has awarded a wholesome amount of US$15.1 billion worth of contracts to other companies in the oil and gas sector.
Out of this, US$5.6 billion worth of contracts has been awarded to foreign companies, US$8 billion to joint venture partnerships between foreign and local companies, and a total of US$1.5 billion worth of contracts awarded indigenous Ghanaian companies as part of their compliance and effort to improve local participation in the oil and gas industry.
According to the company’s information, currently, five out of the eight, representing 63% of the leadership team with Tullow Ghana, are Ghanaians.
Mrs Lumor indicated that the company is much committed at growing competencies locally, stressing “the company as at 2017 had a 74 percent Ghanaian representation of the total number of employees”. This number she added is growing steadily by the year.
“The truth is that we haven’t done any of these by ourselves. We’ve talked a lot about the Jubilee and TEN partners but Government of Ghana has played an instrumental role because without their collaboration and cooperation there wouldn’t be a lot that we have done”, she said.