New National Oil and Gas
Security to police Oil industry
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, June 4, Ghanadot - The
Government of Ghana is to set up a National Oil and Gas
Security to police the country’s upcoming oil industry.
The National oil and Gas Security will further support
existing security and other legal institutions to also
ensure transparency in the sector.
As the country is expected to produce large quantity of oil
and gas in commercial volumes in 2010, the government is
making frantic efforts to ensure that the coming oil boom
benefits the people.
To this end, the government has called on the local
authorities to develop their expertise and capacity to
ensure increased local involvement in the oil and gas
industry.
The Minister for Energy,
Dr. Joe Oteng-Adjei disclosed this at the opening of a three
day Oil and Gas conference in Accra.
The conference was organized by the West Africa Business
Association (WABA) to create awareness on the need for
policies, regulations and strategies to make the country’s
oil find a blessing to the people.
He called for a review of policies on oil and gas to ensure
effective management, guarantee sustainability and protect
the environment, saying “We have to re-organise the
institutions to make them more effective and relevant to the
sector. Efforts should be made to fashion out an effective
framework for the development and management of the oil and
gas sector”.
Dr Oteng-Adjei hinted
that the government would periodically review and revise the
Petroleum Exploration and Production Law and the Petroleum
Income Tax Law to maintain an attractive investment
environment for both local and foreign oil companies to
operate fairly.
“We also need to
create a friendly environment to encourage investments in
the oil and gas industry value chain through fiscal
incentives and even handed regulations,” the minister added.
Dr Oteng-Adjei stressed that to maintain the
country’s oil and gas asset, Ghana would work with external
partners to ensure smooth development of the sector.
We pledge the commitment of Government to
ensure transparent development of oil and gas resources as
an integral part of developing the country’s economy,” he
said.
Mr Joseph Winful, Chairman of
WABA, Ghana called on all stakeholders in the oil and gas
industry to forge closer partnership to promote development
of the industry.
Ghanadot
