The Ministry of Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Kosmos Energy, a US-based privately owned oil exploration and production company for exploration and exploitation of oil in the Tano Basin.
The deputy minister of Energy, Mr. T.K. Hammond signed for Ghana, while Mr. James C. Musselman, President and CEO of Kosmos, signed for his company. The company is credited with finding oil in the Equatorial Guinea. With the MoU, Cabinet would develop a bill to be sent to Parliament for ratification to allow the company to begin exploration as soon as possible. Mr. Musselman said the company intended to spend over $75million in the exploration of the basin.
According to him, the data on the basic that his out fit procured from the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) at cost of $75,000 indicated a very good prospect for a possible production. He said there was ample evidence similar to that of Equatorial Guinea that showed that Ghana had great opportunity to produce oil and ?Kosmos Energy would apply the most modern technology to ensure the realization of oil in the basic. He said the first phase of the exploration which would involve over $10million will be the gathering of more information while the second phase would consist of evaluation of seismic date.
Three dimension system information gathered would also be in the region of about $25million. Mr. Musselman aid the final phase of the exploration will include the drilling of wells as among other technical activities, which would cost $35milion. He said with all these financial commitment the Government of Ghana will not have to pay anything.
Later in an interview, Mr. Hammond said government attached great importance to the oil industry and cabinet will discuss the issue expeditiously to ensure that it is placed before Parliament as soon as possible. He said what made the issue more interesting and encouraging was that the field was virgin and could yield more oil when things go through.
