Aker Energy and AGM operations have been the subject of ongoing controversy. The alliance of civil society organisations (CSOs) working on extractives governance has expressed concern about these issues as well as the sale of 50% of Jubilee Oil Holding Limited's (JOHL) interest in the Deepwater Tano block to PetroSA.
In a jointly signed statement released today, the CSOs stated that in order to prevent the country from suffering financial damage, prompt political action is needed to address the two urgent challenges. At a news conference held today in Accra, Abdul Karim Mohammed, Coordinator for the Economic Governance Platform, read the statement.
The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the Centre for Extractives and Development Africa (CEDA), the CSOs Open Licencing Monitoring Group, and the Citizen's Movement Against Penplusbyte, Oil Watch Ghana, the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas, and Corruption (CMAC)
The others are IMANI Ghana, Women Aspire, Publish What You Pay, the Centre for Public Interest Law, the Natural Resources Governance Institute, the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), and the Centre for Democratic Development (PWYP).
Concerns
The CSOs questioned the company's operations' openness and value for money in light of the scandals surrounding Aker Energy.
They denounced the plan by the government and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to acquire offshore oil and gas blocks for an exorbitant price of $1.65 billion.
The CSOs said that despite their protests, Parliament gave the GNPC permission to borrow $1.1 billion for the deal.
Recent events, however, have shown that the major block, DWT/CTP, is now under the hands of AFC Equity Investment after Aker failed on a $200 million loan, while one of the blocks, SWDT, has been given back to Ghana for free.
The CSOs appealed for openness in the adoption of Aker's Plan of Development (PoD) for the Pecan Field and demanded responsibility for the misuse of public monies. The rumoured sale of JOHL's shareholding in the Deepwater Tano block to PetroSA also raised concerns among the CSOs.
The sale of 50% of JOHL was purportedly started by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), which was chastised for doing so despite the company's enormous revenue potential for the government.
The CSOs regarded the preemption claims as unlawful and emphasised the dangers to Ghana's petroleum interests.
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