Asafu Adjaye ? GNPC Boss
The Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC) has denied allegations that it?s not transparent in its operations.
In recent weeks, some civil society organisations including the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), STAR Ghana and IMANI Ghana have, among other things, accused GNPC of not accounting to national authorities for the resources entrusted to them, including an amount of US$207.96 million ceded to it in 2011.
The company was also accused of unilaterally appropriating public funds under its stewardship and misleading the public regarding Jubilee oil production prospects.
A statement issued by the Corporate Affairs Department of GNPC, in response to the allegations, noted that ?it is completely inaccurate to state that GNPC does not render accounts to the State for oil revenues. GNPC is in compliance with our statutory reporting and accountability obligations.?
According to the company, it submits its accounts to the Auditor-General for auditing every year and the audited accounts are submitted to all relevant government agencies including the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
GNPC indicated that it ?submits daily production reports to the Minister for Energy, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, the Commissioner-General, GRA, the Executive Secretary of the Energy Commission and the Chief Executive of the Petroleum Commission.?
In explaining how it utilized the $207.96 million it received, the statement indicated that ?in 2011, Parliament allocated $207.96 million from Petroleum Revenues to GNPC. During the 2012 budget hearings, GNPC accounted to Parliament through the Ministers for Energy and Finance and Economic Planning on the use of these funds as follows: $132,484,815 million (or 63.7 percent) went to repay part of the money GNPC borrowed from the Jubilee partners to pay for our $165.8 million share of field development costs incurred since 2008; $30,315,185 (or 14.6 percent) went towards the acquisition, processing and interpretation of 2,612 km? of 3D Seismic Data for the Southwest Deep Tano block; $28,119,624 (or 13.5 percent) was used in fabrication and installation of 14 km of deepwater pipeline as part of the Natural Gas Infrastructure Project; $7,661,475 (or 3.7 percent) went to Staff costs; $9,383,204 (or 4.5 percent) went towards General Operational and Administrative Expenditure.?
It noted that GNPC has no discretion over dividend payments since all the revenues are already fully under state control.
?The ceded funds are not subject to dividend payments because this would mean that GNPC would not have the resources required to execute the projects Parliament and the Executive would have approved,? it noted.
On the production prospects of the Jubilee oil fields, GNPC indicated that ?contrary to IMANI?s pessimistic assessment, the Jubilee field has delivered industry-leading operational and safety performance, and has a record of 98 percent uptime and has suffered no lost time incidents.?
It added that both GNPC and Tullow, the Operator, have offered truthful public explanations for the decline in production and explained the remedial works underway to reverse this decline.
The statement emphasised that ?also contrary to IMANI?s claims, the Jubilee team?s production projections for end-2012 and beyond are scientific and consistent with the results of the remedial works conducted so far and the pace of Phase 1A development.
?The Jubilee team has completed remedial work on three of the Phase 1 production wells and brought them back on-stream at increased rates and at reasonable costs.?
The team, it added, plans to conduct similar remedial work on three more wells this year, and has also drilled two new Phase 1A production wells and one injection well.
It further indicated that ?in the first half of 2012, Jubilee produced an average of about 63,000 bopd, and is currently producing at the same average rate even though at any particular point in time one well is off-line undergoing remedial work.
?As these wells and the new Phase 1A wells are brought on-stream we expect Jubilee production to peak at 90,000 bopd by the end of the year and to achieve an annual average of between 70,000 and 80,000 bopd for 2012. We expect to ramp up to plateau production of 120,000 bopd in 2013.?
?IMANI?s analysis of Jubilee Phase 1A project cost is informed by wrong information and wrong extrapolation from inadequate information.
They could have spared themselves and the public some anxiety by simply asking GNPC for the correct information and challenging us to explain before going public.?
GNPC noted that its doors were opened for constructive discussion about the oil and gas industry in Ghana.
By Esther Awuah
