The Minority in Parliament has raised red flags over the decision by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation to acquire shares in deepwater Tano Cape Three Points and South deepwater Tano blocks.
In the statement, the Minority said it was not against the current proposed share acquisition transaction by GNPC in the Aker and AGM blocks, the NDC Minority is not against the policy or decision for GNPC to acquire higher stakes in the said oil blocks per se.
“However, it must be made clear that we have serious concerns about the proposed hyper-inflated purchase price of the blocks and demand that all the necessary due diligence, independent audits, valuation and appraisals must be conducted by GNPC to ensure value for money for the country before the deal is approved by Parliament.
This must be done with a high sense of transparency, while taking on board the views of stakeholders, particularly Civil Society Organizations in the Extractive Industry.”
The Minority is therefore proposing the following recommendations;
i. That, the request by the Minister for Energy for Parliament to grant a blanket approval for GNPC to proceed with the acquisition of 37% and 70% shares in the Aker and AGM blocks respectively, is improper.
ii. We demanded that GNPC goes back and negotiate the deal into one that addresses the value for money concerns raised by the Minority and some CSOs in the Extractive Industry and that same be presented to parliament for consideration and approval.
iii. That, in the event that the negotiated deal is approved, the minority demands that the loan agreement to purchase the shares therein should also be presented to parliament for consideration and approval.
iv. Additionally, the Minority demanded that GNPC as the buyer, engages the services of an independent and reputable international financial institution to conduct a full appraisal and risk assessment of the Aker and AGM blocks. The presentation from GNPC indicated that Aker and AGM have added 267 million barrels to the blocks since they took over. The Minority equally demanded for a full audit of this claim and the expenditure incurred by Aker and AGM following the acquisition of the oil blocks by a reputable and independent audit firm.
V. Also, the minority both at the committee level and plenary, raised serious concerns about the decision by Aker Energy to use a projected benchmark price of $65 per barrel for the valuation, as adopted by the independent technical consulting firms, namely, Pareto Securities, Arctic Securities and Lambert Energy Advisory. The minority finds GNPC’s proposed benchmark price of $65 per barrel unrealistic and insists that same should he reviewed downwards to a more realistic price thereby reducing the hyper-inflated proposed purchase price significantly.
Vi. The minority demanded that all the relevant technical and financial documents relevant to the Agreement, particularly the necessary appraisal, valuation and/or audit reports must be submitted to Parliament by the Minister prior to the presentation and consideration of the final negotiated Agreement.
Vii. For emphasis, the Minority maintained both at the Committee level and plenary, that the average international market price of crude oil over the next 30 years cannot be more than US$65 as suggested by government and indicated very forcefully, that we will not accept that benchmark price which appears to have been adopted by the independent valuation agencies.
Read the full statement below
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
