Ghana sells oil drill-ship

Ghana has sold the drill ship of its petroleum company, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). The sale of drill ship, Discoverer 511, was effected to defray a debt of $47 million owed a Bank, Societe General.

A government statement issued in Accra said the former Chief Executive of the GNPC, Tsatsu Tsikata, incurred the debt when he dabbled in the derivations market and lost heavily.

The statement also added that as a result, a High Court in London awarded Societe General, the sum which included $7 million in costs and interests.

The drill ship was offered by Mr. Tsikata as security for the losses to Societe General, which tried to enforce the judgement by selling the ship then detained off the shores of Oman.

However as part of the negotiated settlement by the Ghanaian government, the bank agreed to an orderly and commercial sale of the ship.

Ghana’s Minister for Energy Albert Kan-Dapaah is however scheduled to hold a press briefing next week to give further details regarding the sale of the ship together with other GNPC related matters.

The previous Rawling-led administration established the GNPC to prospect for oil along Ghana’s Atlantic coast in order to find a permanent solution to the fuel crises that perennially hit the country. However, the company’s deals and expansionist projects, which include drilling for oil in Angola, have led to losses amounting to several millions of dollars.