2014 GHEITI REPORT ON MINING, OIL&GAS OUT
The Ministry of
Petroleum has asked the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative,
GHEITI, the local chapter of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative,
to reposition itself to take advantage of the commencement of oil production from
the Tweneboa, Enyera and Ntonme, TEN, as well as the expected production of oil
from the Sankofa Gye Nyame fields by next year, to expand its scope in the oil
and gas industry.
According to the Ministry, Parliament last month passed the
Petroleum Exploration and Production law after five years of public engagement
to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of Ghana’s
petroleum resources.
The Chief Director of the Ministry, Professor Thomas
Akabzaa gave the advice at Obuasi during the opening of a two-day dissemination
workshop on the 2014 GHEITI Report on mining and the Oil and Gas sectors.
Professor Akabzaa noted that the Petroleum Revenue Management Act has as well
been promulgated to provide guidance for the utilization of oil revenues, and
also the local content policy to engender participation of Ghanaians in the oil
and gas industry.
He observed that the current situation at the Obuasi mine of
Anglogold Ashanti has come as a major lesson to all in the country’s future
handling of mineral exploration.
On her part, a Deputy Minister of Finance,
Mrs. Mona Quartey, in an address also read for her, emphasized that the
economic importance of the natural resource sector, especially the mining
industry, cannot be over emphasized saying that the sector contributed five per
cent of government’s total revenue in 2014.
Mrs. Quartey stressed government’s
commitment to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative process since
it serves the interest of both government and the private sector to identify
the existing challenges in the mining sector for correction.
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