Ghana has announced it is embarking on aggressive oil exploration in the upstream petroleum sector as part of its strategy to revive the country’s industry.
In line with the strategy, Vice President Alhaji Mahammudu Bawumia, said on Monday that the government will later this year initiate a bidding process “to allocate oil blocs to competent companies in our offshore basins”.
“Our new strategy for the upstream oil industry is aggressive exploration. This is aimed at reviving the industry…” he said at the launch of NORFund, a Norwegian fund, in Accra.
The vice president said the government was committed to accelerating new discoveries in the industry to raise more revenue, especially as the country works towards the president’s vision of Ghana Beyond Aid.
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Bawumia said, is actively undertaking seismic work on onshore voltarian basin.
The efforts by the government, he noted, would “ensure the revival of the oil industry and create more opportunities for Ghanaians and Ghanaian businesses”.
Meanwhile, the vice president has stated a major milestone achieved so far by the Akufo-Addo-led government is transparency in good governance.
“One major milestone that we have reached in the fight against corruption as a government is transparency in the terms of good governance,” he stated.
He mentioned the ‘Ghana register’ in the oil and gas sector as one of the measures that has ensured transparency, and made Ghana “one of the leading examples in Africa in resources contract transparency.
The register, which contains petroleum agreement and permits and have been published online, he observed, demonstrates President Akufo-Addo’s resolved in fighting corruption in the oil and gas industry.
Dr. Bawumia said government launched accelerated oil and gas capacity programme to train Ghanaian youth in various skills including mechanics and engineering “to position them to play front roles in the oil industry”
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
