Government reviews legal and regulatory framework of oil exploration and production

Mr Herbert Krapa, Minister of State, at the Energy Ministry says the country has reviewed aspects of the existing legal and regulatory framework to attract new investments for exploration and production activities.The country's stable regulatory regime had also sustained interest in Ghana as more and more companies kept visiting the Petroleum Commission's data room, with renewed confidence to do business with Ghana.'These reforms should encourage existing companies to continue to invest in new drilling activities, and optimise recovery from existing fields,' he added.Mr Krapa said at the official opening of the 2024 Local Content Conference and Exhibition on the theme: 'Attracting Exploration and Production Investments to Boost Local Content - New Pathways.'The conference was attended by delegations from Nigeria, Namibia, and Uganda as well as Ghana.He said the country was moving towards ultra-deep-water production, which required modern technologies, and huge capital investments.Recent discove ries have largely de-risked the deep-water geology of Ghana.The Minister said the regulatory regime guaranteed sanctity of contracts and unrestricted profit and dividend repatriation, and that investors were assured of transparency, fairness, and regulatory predictability.Mr Krapa said the country would continue to ensure a fair share of the oil and gas resources for all its people, and we would guarantee reasonable returns for investments.'We are partnering to expand our gas processing and transportation infrastructure - for an accelerated gas-led industrialisation,' he said, adding that the changing energy dynamics had renewed the conviction to reform and enhance GNPC's capacity.The Minister mentioned that the maritime border dispute between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire resulted in an interim injunction imposed by ITLOS on new drillings and exploration activities between 2015 and 2017, halting new investments in the sector.'But we are recovering. We are reforming the business regulatory framework in th e country and attention is being paid to other limiting conditions for new investments,' he said.Mr Egbert Faibille Jnr, Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, said since Ghana commenced commercial production of oil, the country had produced 753 million barrels of oil as of end of August 2024.He said recent exploration efforts between 2018 and 2022 saw six discoveries from seven wells drilled.Notwithstanding the initial growth and the successes evidenced by the discoveries, the industry had recently taken a downward trend in new investments and production volumes.He, however, stressed that the Ministry of Energy and the Petroleum Commission were committed to and doing all that was possible to attract new investments into Ghana's exploration and production space.Source: Ghana News Agency