Middle East Crisis: Onasis Kobby hails Mahama govt for prudent management of economy

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Operations and Technical at the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation, Onasis Kobby Rosely, has attributed the resilience of the Ghanaian economy amid global shocks, particularly the Middle East crisis to the prudent economic measures implemented by the John Dramani Mahama-led government.

In an interview with Channel One TV, Onasis Kobby Rosely noted that the strong performance of the Ghanaian cedi since the Mahama administration took office is a major reason for the controlled increase in fuel prices in the country.

The energy expert highlighted the global price of crude oil (in US dollars) and the cedi's exchange rate against the dollar as the two key determinants of fuel prices in Ghana. With the cedi enjoying relative stability against major trading currencies, he explained, the impact of the conflict in Iran and the broader Middle East has been significantly mitigated.

“The good thing is that the government is working so hard. The Ministry of Finance is on top of it. But for the performance of our local currency, it would have been catastrophic. We may have surpassed what the previous government gave us.

“Currently, we are doing far less than that, which means the government is doing so well. One major contributor to the high cost of living besides fuel prices is your currency's strength, and we are lucky that the cedi is currently doing well,” he said.

Onasis Kobby Rosely also called for patience among Ghanaians, urging the populace to exercise restraint and trust the government as it works to improve the economy and meet the country's aspirations.

“Ghanaians should bear with what is going on now,” Onasis Kobby Rosely concluded during the interview with Channel One.

On the lessons from the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, Onasis Kobby Rosely insisted the urgency of the situation calls for an expeditious process for the development of the Petroleum Hub project.

According to the energy expert, while facilities like the Tema Oil Refinery, Sentuo, and others provide short-term solutions, the long-term solution lies in the full development of the Petroleum Hub, which will include storage tanks capable of holding 10,000,000 cubic metres of fuel.

“The lesson for Africa, Ghana in particular, is to look at fuel security. OPEC requires a country to hold at least 90 days of stock. You need to have a stockpile of 90 days before you will be fuel-secure.

“When the NPA Chief Executive spoke two weeks ago, the indication was that we have six weeks. Now it is two weeks. If we haven’t restocked, that means we have four weeks.

“I don’t know—I mean, I’m not on that side of it—so I don’t know to what extent that stock is coming in. So, for us to be fuel-secure, that means we need 90-day storage. Now we don’t have it yet. So, the lesson is that we need to think long-term about energy security, because all other countries are stocking,” he said.

“We are so lucky to be producing, at the moment, 254,000 barrels a day from the three fields—the Jubilee, TEN, and Sankofa fields. They are giving us 254,000. TOR’s capacity is 45,000—that is the optimum—45,000 barrels a day. Sentuo does 36,000.”

AM

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