Ghana Will Follow Best Examples Of Oil Management

Vice-President John Mahama presenting a piece of Kente to Crown Prince Haakon, accompanied by Princess Mette-Mariti, after their meeting at the Flag Staff House in Accra.

Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has pledged the government’s commitment to emulate the best examples of oil-producing nations to appropriately manage its oil and gas find to improve the lives of Ghanaians.

He said although Ghana was a developing nation, the lessons learnt from oil-producing countries such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Libya, among others, would guide it to strive to make the resource a blessing and not a curse.

The Vice-President made the promise when the Crown Prince and Princess of Norway and the Norwegian Minister of Environment and Development called on him at the Flagstaff House ahead of the launch of the Ghana-Norway Agreement on Oil for Development.

In October 2007, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) applied for assistance from Norway under its Oil for Development (OfD) programme.

The application was followed up with a call from the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, for Norway to grant Ghana’s request.

Based on the subsequent dialogue and thorough assessment of the scope for co-operation, a decision was made to make Ghana a core co-operation country in the OfD programme.

In February 2008, during the National Forum on Oil and Gas Development in Accra, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Ghana’s Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway regarding long-term co-operation within the petroleum sector under the OfD.

In December 2010, the governments of Norway and Ghana signed an agreement following a request by Ghana for support to strengthen the resource management of oil and gas in Ghana.

The Vice-President said Ghana would emulate the sense of equity and justice of the people of Norway for the benefit of Ghanaians.

He said there was democracy and the rule of law in the country, adding that the government had put in place numerous positive interventions to reduce poverty and improve the lives of the people.

Crown Prince Haakon commended Ghana for instituting a strong democratic governance and setting a good example in terms of poverty alleviation, as well as gender equality.

He stressed the need for strong co-operation between the two countries, saying, “I am happy to be co-operating with Ghana in the oil and gas field.”

The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, said the collaboration between the two countries was a demonstration of the commitment of the Ghana Government to the sustainable development of oil and gas.

She said Norway had, over the years, demonstrated how offshore oil and gas reserves could prudently be managed, taking into consideration environmental and social concerns.

She announced that Norway was providing the government a grant equivalent of $6.5 million towards the realisation of the expected outputs.

A Deputy Minister of Energy, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, said the MoU would involve, among others, assistance in establishing a petroleum policy and implementation plan.