Ghana's oil find requires good management

Dr Egbert Imomoh, President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers(SPE) has stated that Ghana's oil find requires appropriate management techniques for maximum gains.

He said:"There is the need to prepare and put in systems that would ensure that the country derives maximum gains form the find."

Dr Imomoh said this at the Annual General Meeting of SPE members in Accra on Wednesday.

He noted that whilst the oil find was a most welcomed discovery, "it is what you do with it and how best you manage the resources that counts."

Dr Imomoh said as a matter of fact, the oil find would attract a lot of investors and other stake holders form both within and outside the country, but the government had the responsibility of ensuring that the country gained above everything else.

"The government should have a strong say in deciding what to do with the oil. Others would come in from all over, but the Government would have to finally decide."

Mr Tony Ogunkoya, Africa Region Director of SPE, said it was important for the communities living around the areas of the oil find to be involved with the new situation in a manner that courted their goodwill instead of contempt.

He said this was the best way to prevent any hostilities that could be sparked by the local communities because they might be peeved at being sidelined from the gains of the find.

The SPE seeks to improve upon the oil and gas industry, especially to help better the lot of local communities that live around these finds.