The Ministry of Energy has taken a swipe at former president John Dramani Mahama for accusing the New Patriotic Party and president Nana Akufo-Addo of greed which he said has resulted in the redundancy of the TENs and the Sankofa Gye Nyame Fields.
Responding to the former president’s accusations, the Public Affairs Unit of the Ministry in a 17-point press statement said it is untrue that the Mahama administration produced substantial oil from the two oil fields which have now been run down by the Akufo-Addo administration.
The Ministry said the successes and fields and subsequent oil lifting that Mahama sought to take credit for were all started by former president John Agyekum Kufuor and the NPP.
“Ghana’s second producing oilfield, the TEN Fields, came into existence between 2009 and 2012, following the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme discoveries. The Deep Water Tano Petroleum Agreement which brought the TEN Discoveries into existence was signed in 2006 when Mr. J.A. Kufuor was President. The TEN discoveries underwent appraisals following which there was field development culminating in the first oil in 2016. For the information of John Mahama and his followers, cumulatively, it took five (5) years from discoveries to production for the TEN Fields to start producing oil for Ghana.
“Regarding the Sankofa-Gye Nyame Fields, the Offshore Cape Three Points Petroleum Agreement that brought it into existence was signed in 2006 under Mr. J.A. Kufuor’s presidency. The Gye Nyame discovery was made in 2009 whilst the Sankofa East discovery was made in 2012, First oil from the Sankofa Gye Nyame Filed was poured on May 20, 2017. It took five (5) years for Sankofa East discovery to reach the first oil post-discovery.”
Former president Mahama tweeted that the NDC “bequeathed to the Akufo-Addo government two new oil fields, TEN and Sankofa. Greed and ineptitude as against national interest means a sad reality of no additional production activity in our upstream oil sector in the last 7 years.”
The Ministry of Energy countered the accusation and said “under the Mahama presidency, at least 11 Petroleum Agreements were signed before he left office. Of these 11, none is producing oil as of today. This is a shameful record of John Mahama which he and his followers cannot justify under any circumstances. Indeed, in attempts to revive petroleum activities, the Ministry of Energy has terminated four of such John Mahama era Petroleum Agreements and made them available to prospective investors.”
