RE: Haggle over type of oil contracts delays E&P bill (1)

"...Ghana’s petroleum fiscal regime should be reformed to ensure maximum long-term revenue generation... The regime can also achieve greater take by increasing the state’s share in production sharing agreements...", Sara Zedingle Ghebremusse, Faculty of Law Thesis, University of Toronto, Canada, 2014).

By: Prof Lungu

GIGS (Ghana Institute of Governance and Security)

FTOS-Gh/PSA Campaign/Petition

When Deputy Dagadu Haggles For Their "Price":

The attention of the Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana (FTOS-Gh/PSA) Campaign, including the Ghana Institute of Governance and Security (GIGS), have been drawn to award-winning journalist, Mr. Maxwell Adombila's 8 Mar 16 article in the Business News section of the Daily Graphic. Titled, "Haggle over type of oil contracts delay E&P bill", the Deputy Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Benjamin Dagadu, complained bitterly that among other civil society groups, GIGS, the core of the FTOS-Gh/PSA pressure group that met with government representatives 20 Feb. 16 in Ada, Greater Accra Region, have caused a 2-year delay in the Ghana Petroleum Exploration and Production (E&P) bill the NDC government under President Mahama has been intending to enact into law.

For online media, we are publishing our response as a "3-Part Dagadu-Contract-Price-Haggle Series" because of the complexity of some of the ideas and the length the FTOS-Gh/PSA pressure team determined to be appropriate for a more informed coverage for the average reader. Those interested in the full/complete paper, all 10 pages, can obtain a copy of the FINAL, with "Haggling Graphics" at (http://ghanahero.com/FTOS_GH_Campaign.html, see under MEMORANDUM FTOS-Gh).

Moving forward, our simple online English dictionaries inform us that "to haggle" means "to talk or argue with someone especially in order to agree on a price; to dispute or bargain persistently, especially over the cost of something."

From the perspective of the FTOS-Gh/PSA Campaign, the question whether Ghana ought to demand and take more of its own oil revenues from foreign Oil and Gas interests can never be a "haggle."

This is a policy debate involving billions of dollars of significance to all Ghanaians. It can only be a haggle to those receiving funds from private interests and as well, skimming from the top of so-called "Hybrid System contracts.

Long-Term Oil Revenue Loss at Just 1%, at Jubilee Alone:

This is a policy debate of such exceptional importance that even a 1% over-invoice, mis-reporting of costs, broken ring-fence, and other such differentials for the $8.9 billion project (Petroleum Commission's own estimate of total cost of Jubilee Field alone), is a whopping $89,000,000. Yes, $89,000,000 would be the loss to Ghana, potentially, due to lack of diligence and abrogation of fiduciary responsibility to the Ghanaian tax payer directly as a result of a mere 1% error, fraud, or "mishap".

Fact is, Ghana funded part of the $8.9 billion, through the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

Fact is, Ghana now has more than Jubilee!

Talking about Ghana losing twice, thrice, and them some!

The FTOS-Gh/PSA Campaign 14-Point Response to Dagudu and Co:

To be continued......

Sources/Notes:

1. Maxwell Akalaare Adombila. 2016. Haggle over type of oil contracts delays E&P bill, (http://www.graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/59731-haggle-over-type-of-oil-contracts-delays-e-p-bill.html).

2. Sara Zedingle Ghebremusse. 2014. Assessing the Petroleum Fiscal Regimes of Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. Thesis, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Canada.

GIGS/Prof Lungu /ANON /GUNA /FTOS-Gh /PSA/

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Subj: RE: Haggle Over Type of Oil Contracts Delays E&P Bill (1)

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