Enforcing Ghana’s local content policy

When in November 2013 Ghana’s lawmakers passed regulations for local content in its nascent oil industry, Afua Amissah must have seen that feat as a cause for celebration as well as a challenge for her.

The regulations are aimed at providing a transparent monitoring system to meet the objectives of the govern¬ment’s local content policy.

As the country’s head of Local Content, Ministry of Energy, the task before

Amissah is clearly cut out and enormous at that.

She is tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the development of policies and practices to ensure that local companies in Ghana have fair access to business opportunities in the oil and gas sectors.

Just two weeks ago, tension was said to have mounted at the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, operating in the Jubilee oil fields off the coast of Ghana as three Ghanaian workers were reportedly dismissed from the fields and foreigners took over their jobs.

Sao Tome shortlists four companies in oil block licensing round

The government of Sao Tome and Principe has short-listed four companies, including Portugal’s Galp Energia, to bid on two oil blocks in its exclusive economic zone, according to a statement released by the state oil company ANP. The tiny Central African island nation announced its plans to open a new licensing round for its Blocks 1 and 6 last month.

The statement said Petrogal, the former name of Galp, and London AIM-listed New World Oil and Gas will compete for both blocks. Blue Skies World Group is bidding on Block 1, while London Global Energy is seeking to acquire Block 6. ‘The result of the analysis of expressions of interest will be announced shortly,’ the statement said.

Sao Tome began awarding offshore blocks after signing an agreement with Nigeria in 2001 to jointly develop acreage in waters between the two countries. However, it has been slower to attribute blocks in the territorial waters surrounding its two main islands.

Sinoangol, a joint venture between China’s Sinopec and Angolan state oil company Sonangol, acquired Block 2 in the exclusive economic zone last year, promising to invest $154 million to develop the

Senate to probe CBN, NNPC, others for breach of Fiscal Responsibility Act

The Senate is set to order its Joint Committee on Finance, Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to commence a probe into perceived loss of revenue into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation through the breach of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) as well as alleged breach of public procurement laws and regulations by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other government agencies.

The directive is fallout of a motion to be moved by Senator Ita Enang (Akwa-Ibom North-east), alleging breach of Section 80 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, which stipulates that all revenues raised or received by the federation shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

The motion is also aimed at determining why the balance of their operating surplus is not paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund and why affected agencies have failed to establish a general reserve fund for the purpose of allocating one-fifth of their operating surplus at the end of the year to the Consolidated Revenue Fund as stipulated in Section 22 (1) and (2) and Section 23 (1) of FRA.

NNPC contains fire outbreak at its Kaduna Refinery

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Thursday said that a fire incident that earlier broke out at the truck park of its  Kaduna Refinery has been brought under control.

It said in a statement in Abuja that the fire which consumed two tankers and also led to injuries for two persons was swiftly controlled, adding that production and distribution of petroleum products from the refinery will not be affected by the development.

The statement was signed by its acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim who also hinted that investigation to determine the cause of the inferno was underway.