Ghana makes another discovery of oilfield

Accra, Aug. 22, GNA - Ghana has made another discovery of a world class oil reserve in the West Cape Three Points area, which President John Agyekum Kufuor says, should sound good in the ears of all Ghanaians.

This comes barely two months after the American Oil Exploration Company, KOSMOS Energy, had announced the first strike of crude oil in commercial quantities.

The new oilfield is located 5.3 kilometres away from where the earlier discovery was made.

Mr Aidan Joseph Heavey, Chief Executive of Tullow Oil, who led a delegation of the Company to officially announce this to President Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, on Wednesday, described their find as "substantial", and would not put any figures on it. "This is exciting times for Ghana. It looks like an amazing discovery and this represents a major step forward for the country," Mr Heavey said.

He pledged his Company's determination to fast track the development of the oilfield, adding that this would be done in the best possible way to the advantage of the nation. It is estimated that it would take between two and four years for this to happen.

Mr Heavey, however, counselled caution, saying it was quite early days yet and that a lot more work would have to be done. President Kufuor congratulated the Tullow and said its announcement that the oil is of high quality should make the people happy. The country, he said, would continue to be cautious until the Company began to pump the crude oil.

President Kufuor said the expectation was that Ghana and Tullow would strike a fair balance that would yield to their mutual benefits. He said in as much as the Company was in to make profit, the country's proprietary rights, as owner of the oil block, would be respected. The partnership should be on a win-win basis. Tullow signed the exploration agreement with the Government in July 2006 and began drilling for oil on July 31, 2007. The Company expects to drill four wells by the end of the year.