Special topics
The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo yesterday addressed the nation on the current state of affairs in the economy. He spoke on the economy, sanitation, roads, education, public procurement, oil and gas, agriculture, sports, gender, mining etc. The address was well received by many while others were of the view that it was not a true reflection of the hardships Ghanaians suffer. On Wednesday 7th February, a day before the address, Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) , Leaders of drivers unions took to the streets of Accra to protest the increasing fuel price hikes and appealed to the President and his administration to remove the special petroleum tax .
Early in January 2018, Ghana signed a petroleum agreement with Exxonmobil to begin exploration in the upstream sector. This prospect means a lot of opportunities in the area of investment, revenue, local content and growth in our oil and gas industry. In his speech, the President made mention of the new onshore oil discovery in the Voltaian basin as “something big for us to cheer about” after commending the nation’s oil company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) for taking the directive to focus on exploration in the basin.
“Last year, I directed our state-owned oil development company, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), to pay particular attention to this potential. It is good to hear that that directive appears to be yielding dividends, as GNPC, from the results of its pilot survey in the Voltaian basin, has established the presence of a working petroleum system. I hope that, eventually, there will be something big for us to cheer about.” he remarked.
