Is Mahama In Collusion With Nigerians to steal Ghana oil?

The international media are raising serious concerns over the sudden rush by the John Mahama government to be awarding oil blocks.

The latest to raise concerns is the highly influential ,Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) which in their latest edition questioned the propriety of the Ghanaian Parliament approving blocks to two Nigerian firms under a bizarre certificate of urgency just two weeks ago.

Now here comes the The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP)with concerns about Miura Petroleum, owned by the son of an international Ghanaian diplomat, in conjunction with its parent company Gondwana Oil Corp, announced recently that its assets in Ghana include the right to the offshore block about which it had begun negotiations with the Government of Ghana.

Ministry of Energy and Petroleum,has come out to issue a release absolving the Minister of this sector for not signing on this contract therefore making the document a fraudulent, how did this happen taken into consideration how this administration is giving oil blocks away like a hot cake. Most of these companies hurridly formed by people with political connections have dubious financial standing and who are determined to be used as "fronts" for international companies using their Ghanaian identity to satisfy local content requirement.ACEP recently cited Miura Petroleum's claim to assets offshore Ghana as example of Ghana "giving away" juicy blocks to inexperienced and questionable oil companies and called for a moratorium on further licensing until the new Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill was passed.

Striking about these deals is not only the speed with which they have been approved, but the fact that the beneficiary owners of these multi-billion dollar lucrative oil blocks are not clear, with fingers pointing to the President and his close associates. The Expanded Shallow Water Tano Block, which some industry experts estimate to contain some $7 billion worth of oil, was on March 21, 2014, awarded Camac Energy of Nigeria and a newly formed Ghanaian company sponsored by close associates of the President, Base Energy.

Industry players have questioned the speed with which the Mahama administration approved the oil deals. The two blocks were approved less than six hours after notice of the motion of approval was given to parliamentarians. Amin Adam’s Africa Centre for Energy Policy (Acep) has raised similar concerns but neither Parliament nor the Executive has taken any notice.

Acep is worried at the rate at which Ghana is throwing out promising oil blocks to relatively inexperienced oil companies. Unfortunately, these contracts are being awarded at the blind side of Ghanaians, who are the primary owners of Ghana’s oil and gas resources.Shortly after Alex Mould was appointed, two new contracts were awarded late last year without parliamentary scrutiny, again questioning why the haste and disregard for transparency.Those deals involved the granting of the South Deepwater Tano to AGM Petroleum and a subsidiary of GNPC, GNPC Exploration and Production Limited and awarding East Cape Three Points to Ghana’s Cola Natural Resources and Giuseppe Ciccarelli’s Swiss-based Medea Development.

AGM is owned by known persons in the NDC, who have formed the MED Songhai Developers, in conjunction with Norway’s AGR Energy and Minexco. Another little known company has been given the right of first refusal to negotiate a new contract over the Offshore Cape Three Points South Block in the Tano Basin, close to the Jubilee Field.

Camac Energy, a struggling Houston-based company, is controlled by controversial Nigerian oil magnate, Kase Lawal. The Tano Block deal was mainly struck by his Lagos-based brother, Mukaila Lawal, and a close friend to the Mahamas.Camac Energy is undergoing some financial difficulties. The US-listed company reported a net loss of $16 million last year.

If nothing at all, the Parliament of Ghana should prevail upon the Mahama administration to tell Ghanaians the people behind these hurriedly formed companies and their financial stability to carry out these projects or they are all like this Muira company that use their Ghanaian nationalities to sell our national assets by collecting few pennies on the dollar and selling us into slavery.

SERVICE TO MY NATION, GHANA

Justice Sarpong

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)