Dana and GNPC announce discovery of oil in Western Tano Area
AGI, TUC to organise workshop on energy
West Africa gas pipeline will provide energy security
Financial sector needs healthy competition - ISSER
Accra (Greater Accra), 10 March 2000
Dana Petroleum Plc (Dana) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) have announced the discovery of oil in the Western Tano Contract Area, about 20 miles offshore, with flow rate of up to 1000 barrels a day.
The spot, in 380 feet of water, has a bottom hole pressure data, which indicated that future development wells using artificial lift could produce at much higher rates.
Making the announcement at a press briefing at the close of the Fourth Oil and Gas Africa 2000 Conference in Accra, on Thursday, Mr John Craven of Dana, said it was not possible to say when production and its associated activities would begin until a comprehensive evaluation is done.
He said the well was sunk to explore the oil and gas potential of both Upper Cretaceous and Lower Cretaceous age sediments in the shallow water shelf region and gain a better understanding of the neighbouring deep water fan prospects, by testing reservoir development and source rock maturity.
The drilling of the well, christened WT-IX, began in December 1999 and reached a total measured depth of 10,414 feet and subsequent testing and wireline logging proved that hydrocarbons were present in both the Upper and Lower Cretaceous sands.
In the Upper Cretaceous, a 150 feet gross oil column was discovered in a channel sand sequence and after a drill stem test over this interval, flowed clean oil of approximately 20 degrees API with flow rates of up to a 1000 barrels a day.
Mr Craven said the Lower Cretaceous horizon was entered at approximately 9500 feet and drilling measurement indicated that hydrocarbons were present at abnormally high pressures.
Drilling continued to 10,000 feet and wireline logs were run, which confirmed the presence of lighter oil in porous sandstone with much higher pressures and gas levels relative to the Upper Cretaceous.
Because logs indicated oil down to 10,000 feet a decision was made to drill deeper to determine the total extent of oil-bearing sands, he said.
However, following problems caused by overpressure while drilling deeper, the partners made a decision to stop drilling at 10,414 feet and plug the lower section of the well on safety grounds.
Consequently, it was not possible to conduct a flow test from the Lower Cretaceous interval, however, future wells would be designed to accommodate the high pressures encountered, thus enabling this horizon to be flow tested.
"Well WT-IX has been temporarily suspended and kept for potential future use as an oil producer", he said.
"The results of the well will be integrated with GNPC's existing high quality 3D seismic data over the WT-IX area to determine the commercial significance of the discovery and plan for future work".
Tom Cross, Dana's Chief Executive, said the discovery confirms the belief that there is considerable potential in the Western Tano area and shows the expertise and dedication of the exploration teams in Dana and GNPC.
Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, Chief Executive of GNPC, said "the well is important not only for what has been tested, and encountered but even more for heralding what we see as a new chapter in unearthing Ghana's exploration potential.
"The location of these additional reserves near the North and South Tano Fields is also significant for our development plans".
Dana holds 90 per cent ownership while GNPC has 10 per cent in WT-IX but can increase it to 25 per cent during commercial development.
GRi
Accra (Greater Accra), 10 March 2000
The Fourth Oil and Gas Africa 2000 Conference and Exhibition has ended in Accra with a call on African governments to implement the conclusions reached.
The meeting, which was also UNCTAD's Fifth Oil and Gas Trade and Finance Conference, had about 300 participants from Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia.
It is an annual event that brings together energy experts and policy makers to brainstorm and chart new courses for the oil and gas industry as well as make new inroads for stakeholders.
The participants praised African governments for the level of co-operation in the energy sector and called for greater impetus to make such conferences more meaningful.
It was under the theme: "Africa, The Petroleum Province of the 21st Century".
GRi
Accra (Greater Accra), 10 March 2000
A three-day workshop on assuring power security for Ghana in the 21st Century opens at Sogakope in the Volta Region today.
About 50 participants from key power sector institutions will attend the workshop, which is being organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), according to a statement issued in Accra on Thursday by Mr. T.K. Gyau, Council Member of AGI.
Its principal objective is to assess the prospects and requirements for providing Ghana with an assured, reliable and affordable power supply system to facilitate the attainment of the country's goal to become a middle-income country by 2020.
The statement said the workshop, which is being sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, would focus on the power sector, one year after the power crisis following the low level of water in the Volta Dam and the impact of the power crisis and tariffs on industry and labour.
It will also discuss Ghana's power supply options to the year 2050 and power demand, efficiency, regulation and tariff issues.
The statement said the workshop would identify principal policy issues and institutional framework that would assure the supply of reliable and affordable power to propel a buoyant and competitive industrial sector in the 21st Century.
The statement said this would be the third activity in a series of initiatives taken by the AGI and the TUC to assess the immediate impacts and future consequences of the 1998 power crisis on the industrial, commercial and labour sectors.
GRi
West Africa gas pipeline will provide
energy security
Accra (Greater Accra), 10 March 2000
A petroleum analyst has observed that the West Africa Gas Pipeline project will not only provide energy security for the sub-region but is also expected to be a catalyst for the industrial take-off of the sub-region.
It is, therefore, a potential source of wealth for the people.
This was contained in a paper on "The West African Gas Pipeline - providing energy security for the sub-region" presented on Wednesday on behalf of Mr. Jackson Gaius Obaseki, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNP), at the Fifth Annual Oil and Gas Africa 2000 Conference in Accra.
He explained that the main focus of the project is the supply of gas for electricity generation in the consumer countries while other uses for the gas have been taken into account.
Current surveys indicate that such uses will only approximate additional 25 per cent of electricity demand.
Mr. Obaseki noted that the shortfall in electricity supply due to low output from hydro-power stations in the Volta (Ghana) and Nangbeto (Togo) have had serious implications for countries relying on these sources and elicited different responses, including reduction in economic activities and increased power outages.
He pointed out that emergency response measures that were planned, such as the Effasu power plant, which is expected to be gas fired from the Tano Field, have not taken off because of financial constraints.
Mr Obaseki disclosed that Nigeria has proven and probable gas reserves of about 124 trillion standard cubic feet (TCF) and produces three billion standard cubic feet (BCF) of gas daily in association with the country's daily crude oil production of approximately two million barrels.
Only a small quantity of the gas is sold either to industrial users or the national electricity company for power generation, while the rest is flared. Therefore, the source of supply is more than guaranteed.
He gave the assurance that no monopoly is expected in the supply of gas to the pipeline as a way of forestalling disappointment in the event of unforeseen circumstances that could hinder delivery from such a source.
Mr Obaseki pointed out that petroleum products are the most important energy resource in the sub-region, representing about 75 per cent of total commercial energy consumption.
However, the availability of the Nigerian gas through the West African Gas Pipeline project will reverse this trend, as gas becomes cheaper, more reliable and a cleaner substitute for petroleum products, particularly fuel.
He said the realisation of the project could be the beginning of sub-regional economic development co-operation in the energy sector being undertaken by four countries.
This will open the door for more of such projects in future and reduce economic dependence on countries outside the sub-region.
Dr. S.K.B. Asante, Chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, who presided, noted that the construction of a trans-border pipeline is a compelling demand of economic co-operation, which can overcome all the parochial sensitivities associated with national sovereignty, ethnic and religious diversity, racial differences and divergent legal system.
The key features of the project include gas supply from the fields in the Western Delta of Nigeria, which has 40 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The length of the pipeline is 800 kilometres from the source through Cotonou, Benin, Lome, Togo to Tema, Takoradi to Effasu in the Western Region of Ghana.
A consortium of companies consisting of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Societe Togolaise de Gas SA, Societe Beninoise de Gas SA, Shell Petroleum Development Corporation and Chevron Nigeria Limited have been mandated by the four governments to be the project developer.
GRi
Accra (Greater Accra), 10 March 2000
Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Deputy Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), has observed that the absence of healthy competition among financial institutions in the country has led to high and uncontrollable interest rates.
The situation is compounded by the fragmented nature of the banks, which are found scattered all over the country without proper regulation and supervision from the Central Bank.
Prof. Aryeetey made the observation in a paper he delivered at one of a series of ISSER's millennium seminars on "Strengthening the Financial Markets for Rapid Growth", on Wednesday in Accra.
He said successive governments have over the years not been able to rectify the situation because they pursued institutionalisation programmes rather than tackling causes for which some of the banks operate at risk.
"However, they cannot be blamed fully for the inconsistencies because they have constantly yielded to both internal and external pressures."
Recounting the history of the financial market in the country, Prof. Aryeetey said financial policies have moved from one end to the other using different approaches but achieving the same results.
Thus, due to the persistent habit of some well known commercial banks to grant credit for trade rather than agricultural purposes, the government established other commercial banks beginning with the Ghana Commercial Bank and later, the Agricultural Development Bank and the Bank for Housing and Construction among other banks.
However, the disease gradually crept into these banks with some of them running at high risks where loans were granted beyond approved levels and some of them running at a loss.
This led to the institution of major reforms under which some financial institutions were restructured and re-capitalised.
Rural banks were also set up to assist farmers in the rural areas, but again, things got out of hand as the rural banks could not be controlled.
Prof. Aryeetey said both the formal and the informal sectors at a point had large reserves lying idle and no one could tell them what they should be used for.
Reserves of the rural banks and the "susu" collectors were used to purchase 30-day treasury bills while others bought government papers.
He noted that the establishment of a discount house has also not helped much because the government itself has become the largest borrower from the banks and this has not promoted inter-bank lending.
He said it is high time the Central Bank put its foot on the ground to regulate and control activities of the financial institutions, which serve as the focal point for information on what is happening in the financial sector.
On the way forward, Prof. Aryeetey suggested that for a start, GCB must be "balkanised" or decentralised into autonomous regional banks. This is because the bank is too large and this has contributed to the inability of government to secure a strategic buyer.
The Professor recommended that the Central Bank should promote co-operation among the banks where they could secure credit from each other from their excess cash.
This would ensure fewer risks among the banks and prevent situations such as those that led to the liquidation of the Bank for Housing and Construction and the Co-operative Bank.
He commended recent advertisements of products such as the ATM by banks, which, he said, would promote healthy competition.
Prof. Aryeetey called for asset and capital regulation of the banks as well as the establishment of market-based incentives, which would require that banks follow certain policies or laid down regulation in order to benefit from certain incentives.
There is also the need to invest in human capital development as well as the strengthening of regional markets.
Prof. Aryeetey said the performance of the Ghana Stock Exchange is quite commendable but said it is not deep enough since Ashanti Goldfields Company is the only valuable asset, a situation a described as not auguring well for the capital market.
GRi