Dr Opoku Prempeh, Energy Minister
The Minister of Energy, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has asked investors to take advantage of Ghana’s good business climate, and invest in the vast opportunities available in the country’s upstream and downstream petroleum industry.
Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) 2021 in Houston, Texas, USA, he said Ghana has investment opportunities in the petroleum industry.
He said, in the upstream space, Ghana has a lot of untapped hydrocarbon resources, both offshore and onshore, which the country hopes to sustainably explore and exploit through partnerships with private companies.
“In Ghana, exploration and production (E&P) licences are awarded through open, transparent and competitive public tender processes,” he told investors.
“However, E&P licences may be awarded through direct negotiations without public tender if direct negotiations represent the most efficient manner to achieve optimal exploration, development and production of petroleum resources in defined areas,” the Energy Minister added.
“Either way, prospective contractors must have the requisite technical and financial abilities to undertake petroleum activities,” Dr. Matthew Prempeh continued, while explaining how business is done in Ghana.
Investment opportunities
Touching on further investment opportunities available in the sector, he said: “There are also farm-in opportunities in some of the existing licences for prospective investors to operate through existing petroleum agreements without having to go through block application and negotiation processes.”
“Ghana’s sedimentary basins are de-risked and highly prospective and our petroleum industry is regulated by clear, predictable and suitable fiscal, legal and regulatory regimes,” he noted.
“In addition to these, the congenial business atmosphere, the hospitality of the Ghanaian people and more importantly, our relative political stability should make every investor consider Ghana as an investment destination,” Dr. Prempeh said.
Hub for refined products
Additionally, the Minister said Ghana aspires to become a hub for refined petroleum products in the West African sub-region and beyond by the year 2030.
He explained that the hub involves the development of infrastructure such as refineries, port terminal facilities, storage facilities, petrochemical plants as well as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals with a network of pipelines.
In addition, he said, “it’s within our plans to develop Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) facilities to serve as alternative sources of fuel for transportation.”
The team of exhibitors were from the Ministry of Energy, which is responsible for energy policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as supervision and coordination of activities of energy sector agencies, the Petroleum Commission, which is the regulator of Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry, and the National Petroleum Authority, whose mandate is to regulate the petroleum downstream industry in Ghana.
